Write every date the same way
Give the weekday, the date and the time zone, and repeat each due date in the assessment row. A student should not have to cross-check three places to learn when something is due.
Academia & ResearchContent Creator
Interactive syllabus: a course page students can navigate
An interactive syllabus is a course outline on a web page, with links to the readings, labs, due dates and policies that students need during the term. Its job is to answer the questions students ask in week one and again in week nine, so every date, rule and contact should be easy to find and easy to check. In practice, interaction means working links, a schedule students can scan and a clear next step for each week, not embedded tools.
Section outline
The sections students look for, in the order they look
Course essentials
Course title and code, term, meeting times, room or platform, and the instructor's name with a contact route you check. Students land here to find the room or the time, so put it first.
60 wordsLearning outcomes
Three to five statements that begin with what a student will be able to do. They tell students what the assessments check, so tie each one to graded work.
80 wordsWeekly schedule
One row per session with the topic, the reading or task, and a link to it. Mark any date that may move as provisional, and say when it will be confirmed.
180 wordsAssessments and dates
Each graded item with its weight, its date and how work is handed in. Where a date is not set yet, give the day it will be confirmed instead of a guess.
120 wordsPolicies and support
Late work, attendance, accessibility requests, academic integrity and the rule for AI tools on graded work, plus where to get help. Link to the institution's full policy rather than rewriting it.
150 words
Total: 590 words
Example excerpt
A sample week and policy block
Sample section
Illustrative example. The course, instructor and dates are fictional. Week 4: Comparing distributions Read Chapter 3 and the short note on box plots before Tuesday. Complete Lab 2 in the notebook linked from this row. Lab 2 is due on Sunday at 23:59 of the same week. Assessments: two labs (20 percent each), a midterm project (30 percent) and a final presentation (30 percent). Late labs lose 10 percent per day for up to two days. After that, a late lab is accepted only with an approved extension. Accessibility: If you need a different format for any reading, or more time on a lab, email the instructor in the first two weeks of term so the accessibility office and I can plan together. Requests made after a deadline are reviewed case by case. Academic integrity and AI tools: Graded writing, code and analysis must be your own work. Do not submit AI-written text or AI-generated analysis as your own. If you are unsure whether a tool is allowed for a task, ask before you use it. Need help? Office hours are Wednesday from 14:00 to 15:00 in Room 4B, or by appointment through the course forum.
Format notes
Make the page easy to check, not just easy to read
Link, do not paste
Link to readings, labs and forms instead of copying their text, so a change to the reading list happens in one place. A Content Creator page can hold links and a call to action that points to one of your project's forms. The page itself does not embed a video player, a live form or a countdown, so label each link clearly.
Mark what is provisional
Flag weeks that may move, guest sessions that are not confirmed and rooms that might change. Students plan around the syllabus, so a provisional date should look provisional.
Keep the schedule near the top
A page that runs past a few screens buries the dates students came for. Put the schedule and the assessments early, and move long policy text to a linked page.
Mistakes to avoid
Where interactive syllabi go wrong
Burying the assessment weights
Students look for weights before anything else. If the grading split appears only in a paragraph in week one, expect the same question on the course forum all term.
Rewriting the institution's policy
Link to the official policy and add only what this course changes. A rewritten copy can contradict the rule students are actually held to.
Two versions of the dates
A syllabus that disagrees with the course calendar or the learning system creates two versions of the truth. Pick one source for dates, and link to it from the syllabus.
A pile of links with no order
Forty links with no week attached turn the page into a bookmark folder. Attach every link to a week or an assessment, and drop the ones nobody uses.
Frequently asked questions
Can an interactive syllabus replace a PDF syllabus?
It can, if your department accepts a web page as the official course outline. Check that first, because some departments require a fixed copy on file. Content Creator makes an HTML page and does not export a PDF, so keep any PDF copy your department needs in its own system, and make sure the two versions say the same thing.
What should a computer science syllabus include?
The same core as any course: outcomes, a dated schedule, assessments, policies and contacts. For a programming course, add the tools students must install, the format for handing in code, how the code will be tested or marked, and the rules for working in pairs or using code from outside sources. Students can then prepare before the first lab.
Where should the rule on AI tools go?
In the policies section, next to the assessments it applies to. State plainly which graded work must be the student's own, and what the course allows for checking or research. A rule for each assessment is clearer than one general statement that students have to interpret.
Does an online syllabus need to be accessible?
Write it so a screen reader can move through it: a real heading for each section, link text that says where the link goes, and tables with header rows. Your disability services office can tell you which standard your institution uses.
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How to build it
Follow the eight-step wizard: type, assets and description, images, branding, contact and call to action, Atty Suggestions, blueprint, and generate. Atty generates one HTML page in the background. Review it, then publish and share the page link or download the HTML file.
