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Canvas - Combining Multiple sections for Teaching Purposes
Combining multiple sections of a Canvas course to manage one primary instructional course space is a process may be useful to instructors who teach multiple course sections of the same course who want to combine enrollments into one Canvas course. It is important to consider FERPA guidelines when you are combining sections. Be sure you follow the FERPA Guidelines linked below.
Things to note
- Instructor must be a teacher in all sections you wish to combine
- Must choose one of the courses to be the "Primary" course into which all other sections will be combined
- Typically, the lowest section number will be the "Primary" course
- After the courses have been combined, teachers and students will only see the "Primary" course site on their Canvas dashboard
- If you do not want to combine the course yourself, you can submit a request to the Canvas admin and request that they combine your course sections.
Before you Combine Course sections
- Combining sections should take place before you copy your Master course to the instructional course. It should also take place before the course site is published and before any grades are entered in Canvas.
- Determine which course section will be your "Primary" course and which section(s) will be the "Secondary" course(s) that will be combined into the "Primary" course.
- Write down the course codes and identifying section numbers so that you can accurately identify Primary and Secondary courses.
After you Combine Sections
Complying with FERPA regulations
- There are FERPA rules that must be considered when you make it possible for students to see students who are in a section other than the course section they are enrolled in.
- There are ways to mitigate this risk when you are combining sections and determining the navigation menus in your Canvas course.
- See Canvas Guide: Complying with FERPA when Combining Multiple Sections for Teaching Purposes
De-combining Course Sections
It is possible to have your combined section course de-combined if a mistake is made, contact the UW-Platteville Canvas admin to make the request.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMBINING SECTIONS IN CANVAS
Start in the SECONDARY course that you want to combine into the PRIMARY course!
- Click on the Settings button at the bottom of the course menu
- Click on the Sections tab at the top of the page
- Under the Course Sections list, click on the course name displayed
- Click the button that says Cross-list this Section
- In the pop-up window, enter the Primary Course ID into the Search for Course field.
- Confirm that the selected course is correct.
- Click Cross-List This Section
You will be re-routed to the "Primary" course where you can confirm that the section enrollments have been combined
Repeat these steps for each secondary course that you want to combine with your primary course.
If you have questions, please contact the TTC at 608.342.1798 or ttchelp@uwplatt.edu