Faculty may request to combine (merge) Canvas courses prior to the start of the term when they are teaching multiple sections of the same course in order to more efficiently share the same content across course sections, freeing up time for other instructional activity.
However, according to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations, students cannot have access to student information (including the fact of their enrollment) of students in course sections other than their own (with the exception of officially combined sections in MyDelta). Because of this requirement, students in courses with combined sections should not be permitted to see or interact with students in sections other than their own.
You must take steps to to protect your students’ privacy and comply with FERPA.
What Canvas Does for You
In Canvas shells combined upon faculty request, students are prevented from seeing students in sections other than their own in:
- the full roster view of the People tool,
- and the Canvas Inbox (Conversations).
Steps to Ensure Privacy
To prevent students from seeing students in other sections in your course, you’ll need to disable or lock down tools that expose information about students in other sections.
Settings
Under Settings > Course Details > more options, make sure the selections are as follows:
- Check Disable comments on announcements
- Uncheck Let students create discussion topics
- Uncheck Let students organize their own groups
Click on Update Course Details button at bottom to save these settings.
By default, the following tools are disabled in the course navigation:
- Chat
- BigBlueButton (formerly Conferences):
- Collaborations
People
When adding TAs to your course, check “Can interact with users in their section only,” and add them to only the sections for which they are responsible.
Groups
The names of all students are visible when students organize their own groups, regardless of section assignment.
- When creating groups, require group members to be in the same section.
- Review this Canvas guide for details on how to create a Group.
Chat
The names of all students who post are visible, regardless of section assignment.
- Create separate groups for each section. Students can then chat with group members, all of whom will be in their own section.
Collaborations
If you use collaborations, be sure to add students to Collaborations who are enrolled in the same section. The Collaboration setup screen doesn’t display section information for students, so you will need to refer to the People area.
Discussions
The names of all students who post are visible, regardless of section assignment.
- For graded discussions, create differentiated discussion topics restricted to individual sections. Review this Canvas guide for details on how to assign a specific group to a Canvas Discussion .
- For ungraded discussions, use the “Post to” option to post topics to individual sections instead of the entire class.
- When creating groups for group discussions, create separate groups for each section.
Note – if you want each section to engage in discussions about the same topics, simply Duplicate the original discussion and modify it so it is available to a different section of students.
Messages/Inbox
When sending a Canvas message to two or more students in different sections, check Send an individual message to each recipient. This will send a separate copy to each recipient and hide the names of the recipients in the message header.
You may also compose messages addressed to all members of a specific course section.
Synchronous (Live) Online Sessions (e.g. Zoom)
Hold separate synchronous meetings with each section. When you record a synchronous meeting, share the recording only with the section that participated in the meeting.
Enable combined-section collaboration
If you intentionally wish to create collaboration opportunities with students in other sections in your course, you can work around the default section privilege restrictions by setting up mixed-section groups in Canvas, which will allow them to interact with one another in the group space as well as send messages to one another in the Canvas Inbox (Conversations) tool. For instructions for creating Canvas Groups, see How do I add a group set in a course? in the Canvas Instructor Guides. You can also remove the restrictions to Chat, Discussions, and Groups described above.
However, before taking any action, you must let your students know why you would like to lift the privacy restrictions and request consent from each of them.
Here are two ways you can request and document consent in Canvas:
- Use the Canvas Quizzes tool to give a one-question survey asking for consent to collaborate with students in other sections.
- When setting up your course groups, use the self sign-up option. In addition to mixed-section groups, create one group for each section. Tell your students that by signing up for a mixed-section group they are tacitly granting consent to collaboration with students from other sections.
Place any students who are unwilling to give consent in groups with members of their own section.
Other Things You May Do
Note:This section is not required for FERPA compliance but may be helpful for managing a combined course if you would like to create differentiated events/activities for different sections.
The following Canvas Guides will help you create Canvas activities/assignments specific to a particular section within a merged course:
- Assignments: How do I create an Assignment for a specific section?
- Calendar events: How do I set a different Calendar event date for each section in my course?
- Quizzes: How do I create a Quiz for a specific section?
(Discussions must be separated by section – see earlier section).
Information on this document was adopted from Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation – Resource Library. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
FCS / HS 19 – Human Development
Engaging with the POCR process completely changed how I think about my hybrid and online courses. POCR allowed me to not only align course and module specific objectives, but to create non-disposable assignments and disregard student busy work assignments. I now follow the POCR process to align all of my courses. This process has enabled me to construct my courses in a stress-free, student friendly, constructive manner. I encourage all faculty to collaborate with POCR and the wonderful reviewers who oversee the process.
ENGL C1001
The Peer Online Course Review will help you create a dynamic and engaging course where all students can excel. Jenn and Marty offer excellent support for each step in this process. I highly recommend embarking on this challenging and rewarding journey!
Psychology 4
As a new faculty member and new to teaching online, I wanted to be sure my courses were structured in a way that made sense to students and offered the highest level of support. I was grateful that I had access to two POCR-approved courses from other instructors when I first started. When I was assigned PSYC 4 and found there was not a POCR-approved version, I saw it as a great opportunity to get feedback during development and ensure the course met the highest standards. I am truly appreciative of the guidance and support throughout the process, and I feel extremely confident in the quality of instruction I am providing to students.
Business 20
My experience with POCR has been rewarding and insightful. The review process has helped me evaluate my courses through the lens of student engagement, accessibility, and clarity. My POCR review team provided valuable feedback that allowed me to refine my content, ensure alignment with the standards, and create a more student-centered learning experience.
FCS 2, 6
Engaging with the POCR process completely changed how I think about and my hybrid and online courses. POCR allowed me to not only align course and module specific objectives, but to create non-disposable assignments and disregard student busy work assignments. I now follow the POCR process to align all of my courses. This process has enabled me to construct my courses in a stress-free, student friendly, constructive manner. I encourage all faculty to collaborate with POCR and the wonderful reviewers who oversee the process.
ECE 21, 26, 28, 31A, 31B, 33, 35, 37, 38, 63
Participating in POCR has been an incredibly valuable experience. Having taken almost all of my courses through the process, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the online learning experience from the student perspective. As instructors, our goal is always to design courses that are informative, well-organized, and supportive of student success, but without guidance this is difficult to achieve on our own.
Since completing the POCR process, I’ve noticed a significant decrease in student confusion around course navigation and expectations, along with an increase in engagement and overall achievement. I truly believe my students are now benefiting from a more streamlined, accessible, and effective learning experience.
I highly recommend that all faculty go through this process. While it does require upfront effort, the long-term payoff is well worth it—it not only improves the student experience but also makes teaching smoother and more rewarding.
ART 3
The POCR process was incredibly helpful to improving accessibility, engagement, interaction, and assessment of my Art 3 class. The support team of Jennifer and Martin provided invaluable guidance throughout the project. I now feel more confident about the clarity and navigability of my course, and I look forward to applying the skills I’ve learned to my other art history courses!
COUN 30 & COUN 31
POCR was an amazing experience! As an instructor, you want your class to be informative, organized, and accessible for students to maximize their learning. I feel like my students will get so much more out of my courses now that they are in alignment with better videos, graphics, assignments and overall organization.
History 27
“After being a reviewer for a long time, I decided to go through the process myself with my online history course. I have been working on this course for over a decade but felt it needed a complete overhaul. Getting through the POCR review was the incentive I needed to do the work and I felt that having knowledgeable people look over the course would help ensure that the updates made sense. POCR is worth every bit of the effort required because when you are finished, when all the updates have been completed, you know that the course works well, that students aren’t going to be confused or run into problems, and that the course is accessible. “
CHEM 3A
“I thought I had done a good job when I developed my online course during covid, but working through the POCR process made me realize that there were many areas that could be improved, especially in course navigation and design. The course is much better organized now, making it easier for students to keep track of assignments and communicate with me and their classmates. I was a bit apprehensive when asked to take my course though POCR, but the excellent guidance I received from Jenn and Marty made the process very straightforward.”
English 38
“I thought my online teaching was solid, but putting English 38 through the POCR process showed me how much more there could be. The course was fine before, but it’s so much better now. The teams are supportive, with lots of good ideas and suggestions without judgment. I’d recommend this course to everyone, whether you’ve been teaching online for 20 years or whether you just started.”
Psychology 2
“Completing the POCR review process for my Psych 02 (Statistics for the Social Sciences) course was a challenging and rewarding experience. The process made me view my course through a new equity lens to make sure all students had the accessibility to be successful in the course. I learned a lot from the process and my skills on CANVAS were sharpened. I am able to use the information I learned from the POCR review and apply it to other courses that I teach.”
Sociology 1A and 1B
“I would highly recommend the POCR process for any instructors seeking to take their online course to the next level. Having gone through the process twice, I can say with confidence that my online courses are more organized and student-centered than ever. This process really allows you to dive deeply into online learning and provides you with the opportunity to develop a course that takes into consideration the varying learning styles of students.”
English 1B
“Moving my Eng 1B through POCR made me rethink every choice I make in my online teaching. Is this the most effective way to structure a lecture? Is this the most impactful and relatable assignment? Have I taken enough steps to ensure that no student gets lost? Looking at my class with fresh eyes has made my class more organized, accessible, and engaging for my students.”
Education 10, 12, 13, 14 and 70
“At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic required faculty to become proficient at executing virtual instruction, I found the POCR process to be invaluable to my goal of designing effective hybrid and asynchronous courses that supported my students’ success. I frequently receive positive feedback from students describing their appreciation for varied elements of our courses spanning content presentation, interaction, assessment, and accessibility which I attribute largely to the professional development that I have received through the POCR process.”
Statistics 12
“By going through the POCR review process, my class is more accessible, presentable, and organized. Students liked accessing this class which was organized and manageable.”
Psychology 1, 2 and 5
“Aligning my courses with POCR standards improved my awareness of online course best practices, including addressing diverse perspectives, overcoming accessibility barriers, enhancing content presentation, clarifying assignment instructions, boosting online student interaction, and optimizing the overall student experience, which has significantly improved my courses and student learning.”
English 1A
“The POCR process helped me to fully align the course content with course learning objectives. Now each assignment has specific learning objectives that are measurable. Every learning task, whether it be a lecture, reading, written assignment, discussion, video, or image, is purposeful and contributes to the desired course outcomes. Students know the who, what, where, when, and why of every action in the course. The accessibility component was invaluable also.”
Communication Studies C1000
“POCR review has allowed me to offer a much better course, but more importantly, it allows students to learn more. It has transformed my online teaching and it’s the one thing I recommend everyone do if they want to teach online.”
Music 4 & Music 8
“I thought my classes were pretty well organized and dialed in until I went through the POCR process. I was able to raise my online course to a much higher standard. The process is very structured and clear and for me it revealed several areas that needed improvement. The support team were all amazing and very well organized and more importantly, they understand how challenging it is to design a class while teaching. I would encourage every instructor who teaches online to consider the POCR process.”
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