Canvas - How can I combine multiple course sections into one course?

The process of combining multiple SIS course sections into one Canvas course is two steps: first, you must create Canvas courses for all sections using the Canvas Wizard, then you must combine the sections using Canvas’s Cross-List feature. 

Considerations

Cross-listing sections in Canvas essentially takes an existing SIS section associated with one Canvas course and moves it into another Canvas course. Coursework is retained with Canvas courses, not with the section enrollment, so if a published course is cross-listed, all cross-listed enrollments will lose any associated assignment submissions and grades. Information at risk of being lost includes:

• assignment submissions
• quiz submissions
• access logs and analytics
• discussion board posts

Because of this, we recommend cross-listing as soon as possible in the semester before student work has been completed.

If you are combining sections of students and have FERPA concerns, please contact CWRU Canvas Support at canvashelp@case.edu for additional guidance.

Written Tutorials

There are two methods for combining Canvas courses: with the Canvas Wizard or manually.

If you are teaching multiple sections associated with the same course in SIS, you can use the Canvas Wizard to combine sections into one Canvas course. If you instead wish to combine multiple sections not associated with the same course in SIS, you will need to manually combine your Canvas courses.

Option 1: Using the Canvas Wizard

You will need to have all of the Canvas courses created for the sections you want to combine. You can do this in the Canvas Wizard; check out our guide for more info on creating Canvas courses.

1. Log-in to canvas.case.edu using your CWRU Network ID and password.
2. Select Help from the Global Navigation menu (on the left of the Canvas page), then select the Canvas Wizard link.
3. Once in the Wizard, select Combine sections into one Canvas course.
4. If you have eligible courses, you will see them listed. Select Combine some of these for the sections you want to combine.
5. Select the main destination course from the courses listed. This is the Canvas course that will remain visible in Canvas.
6. Use the checkbox(es) to select the source course(s) to combine with the main destination course. Source courses will no longer be visible in Canvas. Any associated student data, such as grades and assignment submissions, will not be combined into the main destination course; this data will no longer be easily available once sections are combined.
7. Select Combine these sections to save your selection and combine the sections into one Canvas course.
   • Note: Do not double-click this button; clicking more than once will cause an error to occur.

Option 2: Manual Method

The first thing that you will need to do is have all Canvas sites created that you want to combine. You can do this in the Canvas Wizard; check out our guide for more info on creating Canvas courses. Once you have the Canvas sites created, you can cross-list a section from one course into the other.

1. Log-in to canvas.case.edu using your CWRU Network ID and password.
2. Identify which course you want to be the main course into which the sections will be cross-listed. Enter into this main Canvas course.
3. In the course’s URL, look for the number after the word “courses.” Record this number for future reference.
4. Click on Dashboard, then enter the other course that is not your main course.
5. Click on Settings from the course menu.
6. At the top of screen, select Sections. 
7. Click on the section’s name.
   
8. On the right of the page, select Cross-List this section (note, this may appear at the bottom of the page on smaller displays).
   
9. In the box that appears, type the number from step 3 into the Enter the Course’s ID box then press Enter on your keyboard. 
10. Verify that the correct course appears at the bottom of the box. This should be the main course into which you are combing all sections.
11. Click Cross-List This Section to complete the process.
    
12. Repeat as necessary until all of your sections are enrolled into the main course.

Instructional Guide

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