How to Display Course Categories

[wmys]

We are a law enforcement institution. We need to be able to display all course categories to our learners, with the ability for them to open a category and see the courses available within it. Is this possible? We are moving from another LMS that does this and really don't want to lose the function!

Many thanks,

Kerry

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @wmys ...

Thank you for the additional information on how your courses were set up in your other LMS.  Unfortunately, Canvas does not have that same kind of display for students.  In Canvas, students can navigate to their "Courses" >> "All Courses" screen to view a listing of all courses they are enrolled in.  On that screen, there is a column that lists the "Term" that the course is assigned to.  However, students never really view the sub-account to which a course is assigned in Canvas.  That is more of a back-end administrator function which can help with organizing courses and some reporting functionality.  There is no "folder" structure in which a student could click and open a folder to see the courses within it.

However, there is a way to do self-registration for courses.  Check out these Guides:

• How do I enable course self-enrollment with a join code or secret URL? (Instructor Guide)
• How do I enable self-enrollment in an account and allow students to self-enroll in a course? (Admin Guide)

I hope this makes sense.  Sorry I don't have better news for you, but hopefully the Guides I've provided above will be of additional help to you.

[Chris_Hofer]

@wmys ...

Can you please explain what you mean by "categories"?  Canvas really doesn't separate out courses by "category"...although what you can do is to put courses into "terms" or "semesters" ... such as Winter 2025, Summer 2025, Fall 2025, etc.  Further, you can assign every course to what is called a "sub-account".  At the College where I work, we have sub-accounts named after our programs...such as "Foundations", "Entertainment Arts", etc.  Is this similar to what you had with your previous LMS?  Here are some Canvas administrator Guides that might be helpful:

• Admin Guide - Instructure Community - Terms
• Admin Guide - Instructure Community - Accounts and Sub Accounts

[wmys]

Yes this is what I mean.. I understand how to create sub-accounts and have done so. In our current LMS, our logged-in learners can look at all course categories (sub-accounts). Inside each category are the available courses. Some courses have closed registration where learners must be deliberately enrolled (e.g., Commander, Investigative Skills) , while other courses are open to anyone to join (e.g., Adult Education). I would like to replicate the ability for learners - from their dashboard somehow - to see and open all the course categoreis (sub-accounts), rather than only the actual courses they are registered in, and ideally self-register in courses where (if?) that ability exists. Many thanks for any ideas. Kerry 🙂

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @wmys ...

Thank you for the additional information on how your courses were set up in your other LMS.  Unfortunately, Canvas does not have that same kind of display for students.  In Canvas, students can navigate to their "Courses" >> "All Courses" screen to view a listing of all courses they are enrolled in.  On that screen, there is a column that lists the "Term" that the course is assigned to.  However, students never really view the sub-account to which a course is assigned in Canvas.  That is more of a back-end administrator function which can help with organizing courses and some reporting functionality.  There is no "folder" structure in which a student could click and open a folder to see the courses within it.

However, there is a way to do self-registration for courses.  Check out these Guides:

• How do I enable course self-enrollment with a join code or secret URL? (Instructor Guide)
• How do I enable self-enrollment in an account and allow students to self-enroll in a course? (Admin Guide)

I hope this makes sense.  Sorry I don't have better news for you, but hopefully the Guides I've provided above will be of additional help to you.

[dbrace · Accepted solution]

Thank you for that additional information, @wmys.

What @Chris_Hofer said is accurate. The closest thing that I can think of related to what you have described that Instructure offers (and I am not familiar with it) is their separate (but also integrated with the Canvas LMS) Canvas Catalog platform.

Take a look at...

• What is Canvas Catalog? - Instructure Community - 1764
• Catalog - Higher Ed
• Canvas Catalog Product Demo | Instructure

... and see if it is similar to what you are looking for.

I should point out that courses offered in Canvas Catalog can either be free or have a cost associated with it.

-Doug

[dbrace]

Hi @wmys,

Like said by @Chris_Hofer, in order to help you we need to know how your law enforcement institution defines "categories".

Are you able to provide us with more information so that we can help you?

-Doug