CASE STUDY
APU Creates Consistent and Compliant Syllabi with CourseLeaf
At a Glance
Institution Type: Four-Year Private
Enrollment: 6,800 students
SIS Integration: Peoplesoft Integration
Challenge: Decentralized syllabi management; Unintuitive interface; Manual data entry; Compliance concerns; Inefficient development process
CourseLeaf Solutions:Â CourseLeaf SYL Syllabus Management Software
Connecting Curriculum and Syllabi
Azusa Pacific University (APU) recognized that maintaining accurate, consistent syllabi across the institution had become increasingly difficult. Without a centralized system, faculty developed and stored syllabi independently, making it challenging to ensure consistency with approved curriculum and institutional policies.
According to Brian Mercer, Director of the Office of Curricular Support,
"There was no central place for syllabi management. No system in place. The entire process was challenging."
The disconnect between approved curriculum and individual syllabi created unnecessary administrative work while making accreditation preparation more difficult.
Improving Accuracy and Compliance
The need for a better approach became especially clear during accreditation preparation.
"When preparing for accreditation in 2013, APU's administration requested departments submit examples of their best syllabi," recalled Mercer. "We got around 200. We read every single one, and only 1 out of the 200 syllabi were compliant—and that syllabus was probably one of the simplest."
The university began searching for a solution that could connect approved curriculum with course syllabi, improve policy compliance, and reduce the administrative burden on faculty.
Reflecting on the long-term value of the project, Mercer said,
"We have our WASC visit in two and a half years and the ability to be confident that every syllabus they might find will be accurate and compliant will save us hundreds and hundreds of man hours."
Building an Integrated Solution
Rather than implementing another standalone syllabus application, APU worked with CourseLeaf to develop an integrated approach that connected syllabi directly to approved curriculum and other institutional systems.
According to Mercer,
"Our School of Nursing was just about to buy another vendor's solution, but I approached CourseLeaf to see if there was a better way to fix syllabi."
Working collaboratively with CourseLeaf and peer institutions, APU helped shape a syllabus management solution that integrates with curriculum management, learning management systems, and other campus systems.
As Mercer explained,
"A syllabus is pointless if it isn't coming out of the curriculum solution. CourseLeaf is the only one with the curriculum system that fully integrates with a syllabus. That is pretty life changing in our little world."
The centralized approach also provides greater visibility for reporting and accreditation planning.
Giving Faculty Time Back
In addition to improving compliance, APU wanted to simplify the process of creating and maintaining syllabi.
According to Mercer,
"If you are not a Microsoft Word specialist, the syllabus can be an enormous nightmare. We get too many stories of faculty scheduling courses on Thanksgiving or missing a specific holiday."
By automatically connecting institutional data and approved curriculum with syllabus content, faculty spend less time formatting documents and manually updating recurring information.
"What used to take an hour to change, plus being inaccurate, now will take instructors 20-30 seconds," said Mercer. "If you take a course one semester to the next, just changing the calendar is an hour-long process and is still prone to inaccuracies."
Mercer believes those efficiencies create meaningful benefits for faculty across campus.
"I think we will give (faculty) 8 hours of their life back each year. I don't know what other software which will have that tangible benefit."
Supporting Academic Quality
Today, APU has a more consistent, connected approach to syllabus management that helps ensure course information aligns with approved curriculum while reducing administrative work for faculty and staff.
By connecting curriculum, syllabi, and institutional data, the university has strengthened accreditation readiness, improved policy compliance, and created a more efficient process for maintaining accurate course information across campus.