• Overview

• Tutorials

• Forum

• Manual

• Questions

What is a syllabus?

The syllabus is arguably the most valuable document in a course. It describes course expectations, learning outcomes, and guides learners by detailing deliverables, evaluations criteria, and scheduling. The syllabus is the blueprint for a course.

What is Concourse?

Concourse is an innovative, online syllabus solution for organizing, sharing, and analyzing course information. Concourse uses the time-tested course syllabus structure as the lens through which a course is viewed. The syllabus is the core of Concourse.

What is a structured syllabus?

A structured syllabus is a syllabus whose content is organized according to a data model that explicitly understands the meaning of the data. In other words, the syllabus data is organized in such a way that the underlying meaning of the data can be easily interpreted and transformed by computer algorithms, which unlocks a tremendous amount of value. In just one example, and unlike a paper syllabus, Concourse can automatically take the schedule of a syllabus and turn it into calendar appointments that you can then synchronize with your smart phone. This is the power of a structured syllabus.

What is a master syllabus?

Concourse allows users to develop a single, integrated course syllabus that can be used for a multitude of applications. This master syllabus can bring together information from multiple instructors across multiple course sections, embed information provided directly from administrators, and be segmented into student and public views. Concourse is the one-stop shop for all course information.

What are course sections?

Sections in Concourse are not unlike course sections at your school. A course section is generally an instance of a course that has unique information, such as distinct meeting times, instructors, and teaching assistants. However, some information can also be common across course sections, like the description, grading policies, and test dates. Whereas instructors used to have to create multiple versions of syllabi for each section, Concourse brings all this information together into a single syllabus that can share information across all sections while providing distinct information to each course section.

What are course groups?

Course groups identify a set of users within a course that share similar attributes. Common examples include instructors, students, and administrators. Concourse uses groups to apply permissions; as such user groups are often provided or restricted from certain features. In this way, you might allow instructors to edit a syllabus whereas students may only be allowed to view the content. In Concourse you can create any number of groups and associated permission schemes to meet your access needs.

What is the public view?

The public view of a syllabus is the version of a syllabus that is presented to a user who is not logged into Concourse. Since Concourse allows you to view or hide individual parts of a syllabus, in this way you can share your full syllabus with students but hide your contact information from those who are not a part of the system.

What is the guest view?

Similar to the public view, the guest view is the version of the syllabus that is presented to a user who is logged in but not registered for your course. Again, since Concourse allows you to view or hide individual parts of a syllabus, in this way you can share your full syllabus with your students but hide your schedule information from those who are just previewing your syllabus for an upcoming term.

Don't see your question?

If your question doesn't appear above, we encourage you to check our forum or reach out to us. We are constantly adding to and refining this list of frequently asked questions, so if we are asked it enough, you might soon see your question on this page!