faq

What is SylSpace on syllabus.space?

It is a third-generation web course management system, with an intentional focus on ease-of-use and simplicity. The webapp software SylSpace, the main site designed to run it is syllabus.space (You are currently running it on syllabus.space) There is almost no learning curve involved in using the system.

Its most important functionalities are:

• A messaging system from instructor to students (to avoid spam filters and emails).
• An equiz system to allow instructors to design and post quizzes, in which the question numbers can change with each browser refresh.
• A file posting system, both for tasks and homeworks [with student-uploadable responses] and for useful files (such as a syllabus, a class faq, etc).
• A grading platform which allows instructors to keep track of task grades and allows students to see their grades as they are entered.
• Addable links to further content elsewhere.

Instructors can ignore facilities that they are not interested in. Students can enroll in courses only with an instructor-set coursesecret when set (or any if none set). The typical webapp comes with the corporate finance course for student self-testing without course password.

A Sample Student Homepage

A Sample Instructor Homepage

The system comes with a tutorial template (to teach how to write equizzes), a few sample questions (illustrating specific features) that can be altered and saved by instructors, and a full set of questions accompanying the Welch Corporate Finance introductory textbook. An instructor who just wants to use the basic questions never needs to learn how to write her own equizzes (even though this is not difficult).

A Sample Equiz Question

This particular question uses complex math to show off what the websystem can display:

Many More Screen Shots

Instructor

• Instructor Home
• EQuiz Center
• Editing an EQuiz (or Making One's Own)
• File Center (Posting Files for Students)
• Seeing Student Grades
• Entering Grades for an Off-site Assignment
• Uploading and assigning homeworks

Student

• Student Home
• Student Equiz Center
• Student Taking an Equiz
• Student Files (Posted by Instructor) Center

Generic Student Self-Use Without an Instructor

The site also maintains a generic introductory corporate finance course, which posts the relevant quizzes. This is suitable for all students using any kind of book. There is no coursesecret on this course, so any students can sign up, enroll in this course, and take quizzes to their delight. Every time, the numbers are different, which means that the quizzes are useful even after having taken them once.

More FAQ information is provided to logged-in users.