WSU Syllabus Requirements

Complete the syllabus template by using the Simple Syllabus tool in Canvas at least two weeks before the start of each semester to meet legislative requirements.

Students benefit from clear expectations that are communicated early and consistently by their instructors. The recommended best practice is to share the syllabus with students in Canvas prior to the start of the semester and/or in person during the first day of class. Existing Canvas functionality allows faculty to share their syllabi in published Canvas courses before the course start date. Individual departments and colleges may set additional requirements for salaried and adjunct faculty for non-mandatory courses.

The university’s template adjunct contracts require syllabi to be submitted to department chairs at least two weeks prior to the start of class, or as soon as possible after hire, if within two weeks of class starting.

• Access Simple Syllabus through the course navigation menu in Canvas.
• Complete the syllabus template with the mandatory course details.
• Use Canvas modules to deliver course introduction materials to enrolled students.

Upcoming 2025 live training events for faculty on Zoom:

• April 18 - 2 p.m.
• April 21 - 12 p.m.
• April 25 - 3 p.m.
• April 29 - 9 a.m.

Register in Training Tracker: 672-43 Simple Syllabus: A time-saving tool for faculty

Ongoing training

• A recorded training session is available here on Kaltura.
• An interactive, self-paced training will be published online by the end of July 2025 and will be accessible through Absorb (WSU’s new training platform, replacing Bridge).

For course sections that meet the USHE definition of mandatory, instructors should use the syllabus template in Simple Syllabus. The template allows for additional details to be added, but at a minimum, instructors will need to include the following information:

• Course Description (available in the WSU catalog’s Course Description section)
• Course Learning Outcomes
• Required and Recommended Readings
• Required Assignments and Grading Methods
• Required University Policies (pre-populated in the syllabus template)

Faculty should try to post syllabi in Canvas as soon as possible for students within the time they have before the semester starts.

No, concurrent enrollment courses are exempt from the legislative requirement.

Please include a statement in the Required and Recommended Readings section of your syllabus similar to the following: Recent articles published during the semester from journals, newspapers, or other periodicals will be provided to support a current understanding of the subject matter or field of study.

The syllabus template includes the following statement to account for such adjustments in support of student learning: Assignments and readings are subject to change to support students in meeting course learning outcomes.

If you update assignment information in Canvas, those changes will automatically be reflected in the public syllabus as well.

No. Due to the alternative track nature of independent study courses, they are not included in the public-facing syllabus requirement. 

Any syllabus content that has been submitted in Simple Syllabus will be publicly visible two weeks before the start of a semester. You may edit or delete items, but it is not possible to remove a listing.

Yes, although it is not recommended. The WSU instance of Simple Syllabus was designed to meet USHE requirements and may not include critical information, such as instructor contact details and office hours. The Canvas Syllabus tool is integrated with other features in Canvas and is recommended as the primary syllabus tool for in-class instruction.

USHE requirements state that syllabus content must be posted publicly at least two weeks before the semester begins. Faculty are highly encouraged to submit content before this deadline so all content is accessible on the appropriate day.

No. The preview button will open a new tab in your browser where you can view what your work will look like when published. Close this tab and return to the browser tab where you are editing content, and press submit to save your work.

Each section must publish its syllabus. USHE requires that every section of a course provide a syllabus that reflects the content in that course. Course content in the Simple Syllabus can be imported into future semesters by the course instructor. WSU Online will handle requests to design department- or course-level syllabus templates starting in the Fall 2025 semester.

Requests that do not meet USHE standards will be forwarded to the Registrar’s office for review.