All of my sections have the same name from SIS ID, can you please add a nickname feature so I can tell the difference between my sections?

[AmandaHuffman81]

All of my sections have the same name from SIS ID, can you please add a nickname feature so I can tell the difference between my sections?

[JeffCampbell · Accepted solution]

You will want to talk to whomever is considered a Canvas "Administrator" for your institution. They will be able to turn on the feature for editing Section Names. You might also be able to talk with them about setting things up for future use. @Chris_Hofer Would you be aware of and able to point Amanda to a resource she could give her Canvas Admin regarding setting up SIS integration with a naming structure for sections? I'm less familiar with that side of Canvas.

[JeffCampbell]

There is a way for you to edit section names, even if the sections are automatically generated through a connection with your school's SIS. We use PowerSchool, so our enrollments and sections are generated from that connection. The ways ours is set up, the section names are created to include a # for which period the students are enrolled (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). 

To manually change these, go to your course's Settings page. On that page is a tab for Sections. This will list all of your sections. Each section name is linked, so click on one of them to open a page that gives the name, the SIS ID, and the enrollment. At the top of the menu on the right is an option that says "Edit Section" where you can change the name. As along as the SIS ID does not change, it should still connect to your SIS for syncing purposes. 

There is a way for your SIS integration to be set up to define section names. I believe this can also be set up so that it defaults to the course title from your SIS, among some other details. This would be how all of my sections give the course title from our SIS followed by a number for the period. I am not familiar with this process, so maybe someone more familiar with managing this can provide some additional details that you could take back to whomever handles Canvas for your district.

[AmandaHuffman81]

I do not have the option to "Edit Section"

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @AmandaHuffman81 ...

That might be a permission setting that your school's Canvas administrator(s) have disabled.  You'd need to check with them in order to see if you have that ability or not which @JeffCampbell has described.

EDIT...I just-re-read your question, and you're asking about edit section names and not not nicknaming your overall course name.  So, the below information wouldn't apply for sections.  You'd want to check with your school's Canvas admin as I've described above.

However...have you considered using the Nickname feature of Canvas instead?  This is done via the Canvas Dashboard where you can give each of your courses a "nickname" that only you can see.  Your students do not see your "nickname".  And, when you add a "nickname" to your course, it does not change the official course name that was brought over from your school's SIS (Student Information System).  The "nickname" then appears in a handful of places within your course...including the breadcrumb trail at the top left of your screen...and even when you import content.  Also, if you don't like the nickname you chose, you can remove it, and the original course title will re-appear.  You can read more about how to give each of your courses a "nickname" by looking at this Guide:

How do I view my courses in the Card View Dashboar... - Instructure Community - 618765

Check out the section about 1/3 of the way down the screen called "Create Nickname".

I hope this will be of some help to you.  Sing out if you have any questions about this.

[AmandaHuffman81]

That does not help me with section names within the same course...only my course name.

[JeffCampbell · Accepted solution]

You will want to talk to whomever is considered a Canvas "Administrator" for your institution. They will be able to turn on the feature for editing Section Names. You might also be able to talk with them about setting things up for future use. @Chris_Hofer Would you be aware of and able to point Amanda to a resource she could give her Canvas Admin regarding setting up SIS integration with a naming structure for sections? I'm less familiar with that side of Canvas.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @AmandaHuffman81,

I definitely agree that talking to your school/institution Canvas administrator is the best thing to do in this case.  With that being said, as a Canvas admin myself, I can't guarantee that there will be an easy way to rename the sections.  It's going to depend a lot on how the SIS-Canvas sync is setup, and those setups are generally not something that can be tweaked easily, as even a small change could have unintended consequences and break a lot of other functionality (especially grade passback).  It does seem unusual to have the sections all identically named, so I think I'd focus on that when talking to the Canvas admin.  At my institution, we do not allow faculty to change course or section info, but we do have unique section names (ex: "HIST-101-001-202510" and "HIST-101-002-202510")

As much as I know a nickname would help your specific situation, it would actually be a huge change to add that functionality to Canvas and have it exposed everywhere where sections are used.  You could certainly submit it as a feature idea, but I think your best bet lies with getting your school to adjust a process.

Hope this helps a bit!

-Chris

[Chris_Hofer]

@chriscas ...

Agreeing with all of this...and I would also say that changing the permissions to allow for faculty to edit section names would apply to all instructors in that account/sub-account, and that might not be something that @AmandaHuffman81's Canvas admins would be in favor of.  My $0.02.