I'm barely an intermediate level CANVAS user, but I combined two courses that were meeting at the same time the first semester I used CANVAS. I wouldn't do it again! The two courses were two different levels of the same subject, but they had different course material. I had set-up my first class, and was 2/3 way through the second class, and what happened was all the material from class#1 was deleted. Once you combine two classes, you can not undo it! This can be disastrous for many of us with two or more sections that meet at the same time since it makes grading obsolete in CANVAS if students have different course material. I then had to add all of class#1's course material into class#2's (which had disappeared from my Dashboard) course material, and it can be quite confusing and takes careful filing, etc., and there are too many files to now sift through.
This semester I have been cautious to setting up my class sections. Never combine the two... There is a way to allow different sections to have access/permission to files in another section by going to a class in the Dashboard, click on Settings on the bottom left, then click on sections and after having copied from CANVAS another class section from the Dashboard, it can now be added to a different class. To complete the process, the instructor adds files from one class to another when they set up an assignment or page in a Module. Modules are like chapters or units that the instructor can add different topics within a unit. I'm now just getting a hang of how to use them, and it can be pretty amazing of how course material can be linked together creating a smoother platform.
If you are now having to teach a lab class online, sections can ALL meet at the same time when students in all sections are invited to the same ZOOM meeting through an announcement from within their class. I also added a module for easy entry to a Zoom meeting. I haven't tried it out on the class yet, but had a trial run with a non student that was successful.
This is what to do: Set up your ZOOM account and download software at least 72 hours ahead of time. Once your account is activated in ZOOM, you can host a meeting. When you set up to host, you can make a template of the meeting and all of the meeting dates and time when making the template. Zoom will issue a number and ID for the meeting, and it will ask if you want to copy an invitation. Copy the invite because it has all access numbers, and the number needed to enter your online class. Now paste the invite into a new Announcement in each of your sections, and go ahead and create a Module in each and add the invite. This way students can simply enter an online ZOOM meeting directly through CANVAS, and now the instructor can teach online to ALL sections they invited through a course with different section numbers. If you have another class of completely different content, then you would have to set-up another Host Meeting with a different ZOOM ID and a new template.
I hope this helps.
