Structured Syllabus (Template) Explained
A structured syllabus is a syllabus where content is organized according to a data model that explicitly understands the meaning of that data. In other words, as opposed to a "flat" syllabus authored in a tool like Microsoft Word, a structured syllabus in Concourse will have defined places for the course description, outcomes, evaluation criteria, a schedule, and so forth. This is similar to how the professional networking platform LinkedIn parses and stores resume information like education and experience in a consistent manner.
A structured syllabus has a number of advantages. First, since the system knows what is an outcome and what is not, you can run an item report to aggregate outcomes, and only outcomes, from every syllabus in the system instantly instead of reviewing syllabi one-by-one manually. At the same time the syllabus can be formatted in a number of different ways, on screen like a sheet of paper, on a mobile device, and even in a calendar presentation. Further, permissions can be applied to each of these syllabus components so that only some parts are visible to the public, others not editable by instructors.
With Concourse, all of these possibilities (and more) can become reality because Concourse is designed to support structured syllabi.
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