Access your institution's public syllabus repository to quickly find information on course syllabi for the available terms.
Accessing the Public Syllabus Search
This is a premium feature. Please contact ben.runyan@atomicjolt.com if you would like to discuss accessing this feature.
To access the syllabus search you can either visit the Canvas page where your institution has embedded the syllabus search widget or access the direct link to see the syllabus list. Only courses with syllabi explicitly marked as public will appear.
Using the Search
Only courses that match all the following requirements are included in the public list automatically:
- Course is published
- Course has a public syllabus
- Course syllabus sidebar menu is available.
To use the search:
- Locate the search box above the syllabus list.
- Enter a keyword or phrase and click the Search button.
- View search results, which include:
- Semester
- Course Name
- Syllabus Title (linked to the full syllabus).
- A snippet of text containing your search term.
- Click the syllabus title to open it in a new browser tab.
For Administrators
Accessing the Admin Interface
- Log in as an admin, and navigate to Atomic Search in any course
- Select Syllabus search admin from the triple dot menu.
Viewing and Searching Courses
The admin interface allows you to view a complete list of courses, including those with unpublished syllabi.
- Search for Courses or Syllabi: Use the search box to quickly find specific courses or syllabi within your index.
- Expand Course Details: Click the arrow to the left of a course name to view additional details, such as the syllabus publication status.
- Green check: The course meets all requirements and is included in the public syllabus list.
- Red cancel icon: The course does not meet the necessary requirements and is excluded from the public list.
- Grey crossed-out eye: The course has been explicitly hidden by an administrator and is excluded from the public search.
Managing Syllabus Visibility
Filtering Courses by Term
To specify which Canvas terms are included in the public syllabus list:
- Click the Edit Term List link at the top of the page, or use the triple-dot menu on smaller screens.
- In the pop-up, search for and select the Canvas terms to include in the public list.
Updating Courses to Meet Inclusion Requirements
Courses must meet all the following criteria to be included in the public syllabus list. These requirements can be managed directly from the admin interface:.
- Course is published
- If a course is unpublished, click the Publish button to update its status. Changes apply instantly.
- Course has a syllabus
- If a syllabus is missing, add one to the course and manually re-index it to update its status in the admin interface.
- Syllabus is public
- If the syllabus is private, click the Make public button to update its visibility. Changes apply instantly.
- Syllabus menu item is visible
- If the syllabus menu item is hidden in the course navigation, click the Make visible button to update its status. Changes apply instantly.
Excluding Courses from Public Results
To exclude a course from the public syllabus list, regardless of its publication status:
- Click the Make Course Hidden button under the course information.
- To restore visibility, click the button again.
Excluded courses remain hidden until manually re-included.
FAQs
Who can see the public syllabus list?
Anyone with access to the page where the widget is embedded or who has a direct link can view and search for public syllabi.
How often is the syllabus list updated?
The list updates about every 24 hours to include new courses that meet the requirements.
Can administrators limit what is shown in the public search?
Yes, administrators can filter the list of courses by term, publish/unpublish syllabi, and exclude specific courses from appearing.
Can I change the title and description text on my institution syllabus page?
Yes, there are 2 app instance settings: course_catalog_title and course_catalog_description.
The course catalog title will change the first part of the title. By default it will be "[domain name] Course Syllabus Search". By changing the title, it will be "[custom title] Course Syllabus Search".
Course catalog description will add a descriptive paragraph that appears beneath the search box. Once you've performed a search, the description goes away until the page is launched again.
Embedding the Public Syllabus Search widget into a Canvas Page
Paste the following code into a Canvas page HTML editor. Update the highlighted url with your institution url.
<p><iframe class="lti-embed" style="width: 100%; height: 750px;" src="https://search.atomicjoltdevapps.com/syllabus_search/atomicjolt#/" width="100%" height="408.25px" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="geolocation *; microphone *; camera *; midi *; encrypted-media *; autoplay *; clipboard-write *; display-capture *"></iframe></p>