Managing Multiple Courses in Canvas
Courses in Canvas at UC
Many instructors at UC teach multiple sections of the same course using the same instructional materials and content. This includes courses that are cross-listed in multiple colleges, courses with labs or recitation sections, or instructors who are teaching face to face and online sections of the same course. Regardless of the reasons, one of the most common requests from instructors is how to combine these courses in Canvas into a single instance to reduce faculty workload. This guide will walk you through the steps for how to do so.
Copying Content into Multiple Courses
The simplest method for managing multiple courses in Canvas is to copy the content from one course into one or more destination courses. While this is very simple to do, it does not tend to reduce an instructor’s workload. Still, it is an option that is available to instructors. Steps for doing so can be found here:
How to Copy Course Content in Canvas
Merging Courses in Canvas
Many instructors prefer to merge multiple sections into a single Canvas course, as this will result in a significant reduction in time and effort. While this will reduce an instructor’s workload, it’s important to understand the key functionality of merged courses in Canvas. Below are some key terms to understand as well as some considerations to be aware of when using merged courses in Canvas:
Key Terms
Primary course – In Canvas, you choose which of the courses to be merged that will serve as the course that will be seen by students. Enrollments from each of the non-primary courses will be then added to the primary course.
Non-primary course – A course that is being added, or merged, into the primary course
Placeholder section – A manually created section added to each course to ensure the primary instructor retains access to the course being merged after the enrollments from the non-primary course have been moved to the primary course. This is important if you ever decide to unmerge a course.
Merging courses – The process in Canvas of moving the enrollments from a non-primary course into a primary course. A placeholder section is often created so that an instructor retains access to any non-primary courses.
Cross-listing – The process of merging courses in Canvas is also sometimes referred to as cross-listing.
Key Considerations
Multiple courses that are merged will become a single primary course with sections for each of the non-primary courses
Student enrollments are merged into a single primary course; they can also be filtered by section
After merging, students will only see the primary course in their Canvas course list
Gradebooks for each non-primary course will be merged into a single gradebook in the primary course, which can be filtered by section. Please note that for Fall semester, all grades in Canvas must be submitted to Catalyst manually.
Quizzes, discussions, and assignments can be assigned to the entire course (all sections) or to individual sections
Instructors can communicate with the entire course (all sections). There is also the option to communicate with a single section as well.
Steps to Merge Courses in Canvas
Faculty can have their courses merged in Canvas by contacting 24/7 Canvas support via the help button within Canvas or calling 513-556-4357 (option 3). Faculty also have the option to merge their own courses.
To merge your courses in Canvas, you will first identify a course that will serve as the primary course. When choosing the primary course, it is best practice to use the lowest numbered section. After you have identified your primary course, you will need to create a placeholder section in each of non-primary courses in order to maintain your enrollment as an instructor. Follow the steps listed below to merge your courses:
Log into Canvas
Identify an existing course to act as the primary course
Create a placeholder section in a non-primary course that you plan to merge and enroll yourself in it
Open the Settings of the non-primary course that you plan to merge
Choose the Sections tab and create a new placeholder section
To enroll yourself in the placeholder section, navigate to the People tab
Locate your name in the current enrollments, then click on the three vertical dots and choose Edit Sections from the dropdown menu
In the Section Enrollments dialog that comes up, search for the name of the placeholder section you created, select it, and click Update.
Cross-list the section into the designated primary course
Enter the Settings tab of the non-primary course that will be merged
Choose the Sections tab and then click on the course section that contains the student enrollments
Choose Cross-List this section on the right
Search for and select the primary course that you want to merge this course into. It is best practice to search by course code rather than course name, since many courses have the same name.
Click Cross-List this section to submit the action, and the course has been merged. When you view the primary course’s sections, you will now see the course you just merged listed there.
NOTE: You will need to complete steps 3 and 4 for each non-primary course you would like to merge into the primary course.