Merge sections of same course

[ernasmith]

How do I merge sections of the same course on Canvas?

Erna Smith

Journalism Lecturer

Lead instructor, J317: Journalism Practice, Spring2020

[Bobby2 · Accepted solution]

Hi  @ernasmith  Welcome to the Canvas Community.

Great question.

Sections are a nifty tool. I found these instructions from University of Oklahoma | Canvas - Combining Sections into One Can... 

Combining courses in Canvas

1. Navigate to the main lecture/lab course and copy the course ID number, which is the last number in the URL for the course, i.e. https://canvas.ou.edu/courses/6199 (6199 is the course ID number).
2. Go to the course section you would like to combine with the main course. Click Settings on the bottom left side.
3. Select the Sections tab.
4. Under Course Sections, click on the name of the section.
5. Click Cross-List this Section on the right side of the screen. Paste the course ID number from step 1 in the box next to ‘Or Enter the Course’s ID:’. Under Selected Course, verify that the main course title has populated.
6. Click Cross-List This Section.
7. Repeat steps 2-6 for each additional section.
8. When you go into the main course and click on Sections (under Settings), you should see the sections that were combined.

I like the way they broke the instructions down. Does that work for you?

[RSMacLeod]

Thanks for this.  Does it work when we have the same students in the main course and in the sections? 

We have a course with one lecture section and 5 lab sections and I want to see who is in each lab section.  So access to the entire class is not the problem, rather that I want to have the lab sections show up as Sections in my Canvas page. 

Thanks,
Rob

[Chris_Hofer]

@RSMacLeod ...

This should work if I understand your question correctly.  When you cross-list the sections into the main course, you (as the instructor) would see the students listed on the "People" page of the main course, and you should be able to determine which sections they were originally enrolled in.

Hope this will be of help to you.

[LARALATIMER]

When I follow the instructions, I get stuck at step #5. I don't have the option to cross-list a section at this step...any thoughts on why that might be or how I could ameliorate? This is a class that is cross-listed with the university and has been for many semesters. I've merged two sections on canvas before for this class, but can't remember how I did it which is how I ended up on this forum. Thanks!

[Chris_Hofer]

@LARALATIMER ...

You may or may not be able to cross-list courses on your own in Canvas.  If this is the case, then you will want to reach out to your school's Canvas administrator or someone from your school's Online Learning / eLearning / Distance Education team.  They would be able to help you with cross-listing two or more courses together.  Keep in mind that cross-listing does not move content from course to course.  It only moves enrollments so that students are in the same course shell...but yet still separated by section.

I hope this helps.  Let Community members know if you have any questions about this...thanks!