Pepperdine Syllabus
Overview
Pepperdine University is exploring Pepperdine Syllabus (powered by Simple Syllabus) as a central syllabus management platform for all schools. With this tool, we hope to make it easier for professors to create syllabi, students to access syllabi, and schools to manage and maintain a repository of all class syllabi.
Benefits
Students
- Easy access to the online syllabus
- No extra apps or software needed
- Option to "follow" the syllabus to be alerted to any updates
- Option to "acknowledge" reading the syllabus
- Accessible and mobile-friendly
Faculty
- Friendly web portal and an optional tool within Pepperdine Canvas
- Easy online interface to build syllabi
- Many key details are auto-populated from WaveNet
- School and University notices pre-filled (a time saver!)
- Dashboard to see who has or hasn't viewed the syllabus
Administration
- Schools manage and update templates
- Assurance that important academic notices or policies are included
- Once adopted institution-wide, automated reminders will be available to engage faculty
- Dashboard to assess completed, in-progress, and not started syllabi
- Reporting and tools for schools and administration offices
- Central repository and library of syllabi to assist with accreditation
Exploration and Adoption
PGBS First to Pilot and Adopt
Technology & Learning has partnered with the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School (PGBS) as the first school to review the new central syllabus service. PGBS piloted the service in Spring 2025 and Summer 2025, and will begin a phased adoption starting in Fall 2025. Their internal "Graziadio Course Syllabus Search" tool (aka "Course Syllabus" tool in Courses/Sakai) will subsequently be retired.
Adding More Schools
For successful adoption, we will need to stagger the exploration by other schools over the next two years. Other Pepperdine University schools that may be interested in exploring Simple Syllabus can contact us to learn more.