Dividing a Course into Two Courses

[Adam2025]

A teacher needs to separate their Canvas course into two sections—one for the first block and the other for the second block.  The assignments are all identical.  How can I do this and still have the assignments move with the students and remain accurate within our SIS (Skyward)?

[JeffCampbell]

For creating sections, that can be done by the teacher if needed. A bit time-consuming from the teacher end, but they need to go to the Course settings and click on the Sections tab. Create a section for each block. Then go to the People page. Find the three-dot menu on the far right for each student and Edit Sections for each. They just need to be added to the appropriate section. Then the teacher can assign work as sections rather than "Everyone" when desired.

As for the connection with Skyward, check out this resource page: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Skyward-and-Canvas/Skyward-Integration-Overview/ta-p/426129

Section enrollment should be an available option. Here is some info on scheduling with Skyward. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Skyward-and-Canvas/How-do-I-view-and-manage-my-institution-s-Canv...

Maybe someone else with Skyward experience might be able to provide some better assistance, but hopefully those links might serve as a starting point.

[Hildi_Pardo · Accepted solution]

Hi @Adam2025 

In our district, teachers who teach more than one section (period) of a course, receive a course with multiple sections.  This is how I explain it to new teachers in a introductory overview:

• For every course you are assigned in Synergy (with student enrollments) a Canvas course is created with sections (periods) and enrollments. Do not manually add students to courses - if you have a new student, please allow 24 hours for the sync between Synergy and Canvas.
• Multiple Sections (periods) in one Course: 
• If you teach more than one section of a course, all those sections/periods will be enrolled in one course.  Teachers can leverage Sections for differentiating assignments, due dates, announcements, and filtering the gradebook.
• If you teach more than one subject, there will be a Canvas course for each subject. Example: If you teach 2 sections of Geometry and 3 sections of Algebra, you will have one Canvas course for Geometry and another for Algebra.

Sometimes we have teachers ask to split their sections into different courses and that it my opportunity to show them to power of Sections.   Maintaining one course is far easier and more efficient than maintaining two courses, especially if the assignments are identical.    Using Sections, you can create ONE Assignment but assign it to each section with different Due Dates (Canvas Guide). 

Please know that if you decide you still want to separate out a section to a new course, you may need a Canvas Admin to do it for you, AND you will "lose" all those students assignments and grades when you move them.  There is not a way to retain their submissions and grades if you move them to a new course.

I hope this helps!