Adding Topics

Adding Sub-Topics

Deleting Topics

Publishing the Syllabus

Note: Only Institution Administrators have permission to create courses. For access, please contact your institution's administrator or reach out to our team for assistance.

Once you’re logged into Pencil and you are on Pencil's home page, you can begin creating topics within your courses.

First, select the course for which you wish to create the syllabus.

If you want to learn how to create a course, check out this article:

How to Create Courses in Pencil

From there, click on the “Settings” icon in the upper left-hand corner of the page, beside the course title.

When you click this button, you’ll automatically be redirected to the “Details” tab, where you can edit the course name, banner image, and description. From there, click on the “Topics” tab.

To add a topic to your syllabus, click on the text that says “Type here to start creating a new topic list.”

If you want additional topics, click on the “Add new topic” text just below the current topic number.

To add a subtopic to your syllabus, add a new topic below the main topic you’ve just added. Then, click on the Right Arrow icon next to the topic number. This indents your topic and makes it a subtopic.

This process can be repeated to create as many subtopics as you wish, and create an extremely detailed syllabus.

To delete a topic from your syllabus, hover your cursor over the far right-hand side of the topic, and a “Trash” icon will appear.

Clicking on this icon will delete the topic. Alternatively, if you wish to completely restart your syllabus, click the gray “Clear All” button in the bottom right corner of your screen.

When you’re finished adding topics to your syllabus, click the green “Publish” button in the bottom right corner of your screen.

Once you click the button, you’ll be greeted with a pop-up that warns you that publishing your syllabus is permanent, and it cannot be edited after publishing. If you’re confident that your syllabus is complete, then enter a title for the topics set and publish it.

In the case that you do make a mistake and need to make changes to your syllabus, you can reach out to support for help. Please note that it may take 2-3 business days to edit your syllabus.

Once you’ve published your syllabus, exit the course settings page with the “Arrow” icon in the top left-hand corner of the page. You will return to the “Course” page, and you can find your newly created syllabus under the “Syllabus” tab as well as the "Questions" and "Notes" pages.

You can then tag any of your questions, notes, or files with any topic or subtopic when creating content.

If you have any additional questions, our support team is always happy to assist you!