Add Class Rosters to Combine Sections

Overview

Learn how to combine multiple class rosters into a single course site.

What Does It Do?

Through the Canvas Cross-List feature, professors can merge student enrollments from multiple classes into one course. This can help with officially cross-listed classes or multiple sections of the same class.

Important Note: You MUST be the primary instructor of the course to merge course enrollments. This feature is not available to teaching assistants, secondary professors, and/or IT support staff.

How You Can Use It

Use People to “push” a roster(s) into a single course site. You identify the site you wish to be the primary (or parent) site, then go to each of the other sites (the child sites) and "push" their rosters to the primary site.
- For comparison, in our previous LMS, instructors had to add a roster to their current course (pulling the roster into the course). In Pepperdine Canvas, you "push" the roster from the other sections to the main section.

Considerations

It can be convenient to use one site for multiple sections. Be sure to consider these items when deciding whether you plan to add multiple class rosters to a single site:

Communication is key. Be sure to notify your students that "they are in the right place." If they enrolled in a different section, they may become confused when they see another section's site in Pepperdine Canvas. For example, if someone enrolls in section 02 and they only see section 01, then they may think that there is an enrollment glitch. Be sure to send a notice to all of your students at the start of the term to assure them that this is by design. You may also want to consider communicating this change to students on the Home page in your class site. This will help serve as a central location to communicate that students are indeed in the correct site.
One "Grades" tool per class site. If the grading structure is identical for all of the combined sections, then you can enjoy a single site for multiple sections and leverage the filter feature to students by the different sections. If you devise different grading structures for each of the different sections (categories, weighting, points, drop lowest/highest, etc.) then you must use each class site separately to accommodate the unique grading structures.
Be Mindful of Deadlines. Will each section have a universal deadline for class activities (e.g., all sections due by Sunday at 10:00 PM Pacific) or unique deadlines for each section? Based on your choice, you may need to create multiple assignments/tests or simply update the “Assign Access” functionality to assign each assignment to each section with an appropriate deadline. In Quizzes, you can utilize the same “Assign Access” functionality to release tests or quizzes to each section with different open and due dates.
FERPA: Respect student privacy. In an online, hybrid, or in-person class, there is no expectation of anonymity in the same class section (see the U.S. Department of Education response to "A student has opted out of directory information and wants to be anonymous in an online course. Are we required to allow the student to take the course anonymously?"). Cross-listed classes are considered the same class, even if they have different subjects, so combining cross-listed classes does not require any extra permission from students. However, the same rule does not apply to classes in which the student is not enrolled (e.g., a different section of the same class). If you decide to combine multiple sections, you must consider FERPA and respect student privacy.
Approaches when combining multiple sections of classes:
- Option 1: Place a statement in the syllabus and announce to each class section your choice to combine multiple class sections into a single site, therefore they may see the names of other students who are enrolled in the different sections. Provide an opt-out option for students to write to you requesting that their names not be shared. If that happens, then you must proceed to Option 2.
- Option 2: Hide select tools and leverage group/section functionality to prevent students from seeing the names of other students not enrolled in their specific section.
  - Hide Chat, People, and Zoom Pro. You cannot expose the enrollments or student names for any students not enrolled in the same class section. Hide tools and separately share select items with specific groups, such as class recordings from Zoom.
  - Use "Group" features in Assignments, Discussions (Forums), Modules , and Quizzes. If you intend different deadlines for each section, you will use their associated sections to create specific assignments or quizzes for each section. Use groups in Discussions to segment topics by each class section.

Instructions

Identify which site will serve as the primary or parent site. For example, if you are teaching 4 sections of ABC 123, you may want to use section .01 as the primary.
Navigate to each of the other sites (the child sites) to cross-list and point their rosters to the primary site. Using the example above, we would navigate to sections .02, .03, and .04 individually.
- Go to the first child site. (These steps are NOT for the primary site.)
- Select Settings in the course menu.
- Select the Sections tab.
- Select the child site's section title (e.g., ABC 123.02).
- From the section enrollment page, choose the option Cross-List this Section in the sidebar.
- In the resulting Cross-List Section window, search for the parent site (e.g., ABC 123.01). Important: Be sure to select the correct semester!
- Select Cross-List this Section.
Repeat the above step for any additional child sections.
Notify your students that the site will serve multiple sections.
- Use Announcements to notify all students in the newly combined class site (the primary site) that the site serves multiple class sections.
- Create a Home/Front Page that clarifies that the primary site serves multiple sites. Since you cannot rename the site, it is important to set a Home Page or a Module Page to orient the students.
- Provide links to each course syllabus.
- Consider a Canvas Dashboard Course Card to also explain that the site covers multiple sections.

For detailed instructions, please visit How to Cross-List in Pepperdine Canvas.

Reminders

Instructors do not need to add officially enrolled students to a class site. All registered students are automatically enrolled every 4-6 hours.
It is the responsibility of the instructor of record to add any teaching assistants, unofficial co-instructors, or other special users to class sites. The process is easy, using the instructions above. The official instructor of record may also request training as needed.
Professors cannot elevate an enrolled student to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in the same class section they are taking. The Teaching Assistant roles cannot submit classwork, so they will be unable to complete their assignments. Also, to avoid the possibility of FERPA complications, bias, or conflicts of interest, professors must choose a TA from outside the enrollment of the given class (or all cross-listed sections).
Remember FERPA! Be careful when adding other users to an official course site. Instructors must comply with FERPA and protect student privacy. Choose the appropriate role based on a legitimate need for access. Request training as needed.