Merge Course Offerings

Owned by Stuart McCulley, created
Last updated: Oct 31, 2024 by Gareth Seymour
5 min read

Instructors have the ability to merge two or more course sites into a single site. This can be performed using the SIS Course Merge tool under Admin Tools in the top-right of any Brightspace page.

An instructor teaching multiple instances of the same course (what the Brock community refers to as multiple sections, e.g. SMPL-1P90-LEC-01 and SMPL-1P90-LEC-02) or conjunction courses (e.g. SMPL-4P12 and SMPL-5P12) where learning content and assessments are shared may wish to merge the sites together to more easily track student progress and more efficiently share course material.

Brightspace sites are automatically created for each course offering and any secondary components (LAB, SEM, TUT, etc.) are contained within a primary course site. Brightspace labels these as “Sections”.

Merging sites should be used to combine courses that share learning content and assessments and not simply to make navigation easier for the instructor. Merged sites share a single Grades area.

Notes on merged sites

  • Roster changes through BrockBD (both adds and drops) will continue to sync with any relocated sections.

  • Students will remain categorized by the secondary and/or primary course sections in which they were initially enrolled. All tools in Brightspace offer a “View by” filter to display members of the component sections, and it is possible to restrict assessments and materials to specific rosters (typically done Release Conditions or Special Access).

  • It is possible to further adjust enrollment (e.g. assign a TA to only specific sections) through Classlist.

  • If different sections require different due dates for the same assignment, restrictions will need to be put in place using restrictions may need to be put in place using Special Access.

  • Unique or section-specific assessments (quizzes, assignments, etc.) will require separate Grade Items, which can quickly become chaotic.

  • Any student activity in a site that gets merged into another will be lost.

  • A course merge should be performed before adding site content assessment tools.

  • The Transfer Grades tool in the Faculty Gradebook area of BrockDB only works when accessed by the Instructor of Record. Merged sites with multiple Instructors of Record may have issues with that process. Reach out to cpi@brocku.ca for assistance.

What if my course already has content?

Existing content in sites that will be part of a merge should be backed up beforehand. Consider the following:

  • Create a Project Site to serve as a template or master site, move all content to the this site, perform the merge, then copy the content back into the newly merged site.

  • Import content from past instances of a course site after performing a SIS Course Merge.

Merge sites

The SIS Course Merge tool will quickly move selected sites and their rosters into a single site. A destination site must be chosen in the initial selection, and any material in the other sites will be lost. Additionally, instructors will be unenrolled from the other sites and thus lose access.

  1. Locate the SIS Course Merge tool by clicking the Admin Tools gear or cog icon in the top-right of any Brightspace page.

screenshot showing the highlighted admin tools gear icon in the Brightspace navigation bar
Brightspace Admin Tools.

  1. Search for the desired courses to be merged [1] or click Filters [2] and then Semester to aid in locating a course within the list. Select [3] more than one course for the Merge Courses [4] button to become available. It is possible to select a site and then perform a new search to add to the merge list.

There is sometimes a delay before the Merge Courses button becomes clickable.

screenshot showing the The search, filter, and select options for merging courses using the SIS course merge tool
The search, filter, and select options for merging courses.

  1. Choose the destination course site that will absorb the others. This site will retain existing site materials, but be careful if there is content in any of the other sites being merged as that will be lost.

  1. Upon selecting the site that will absorb the others, click the Merge button at the bottom of the window. This will begin the merge process.

  2. It is recommended that instructors rename the course site once the other sites are merged into it to avoid student confusion (e.g. if lecture sites 1-4 were merged, rename the site inclusive of all sections). A course site’s name can be changed in Course Tools → Course Admin → Course Offering Information.

Unmerge sites

The SIS Course Merge tool offers instructors the ability to unmerge course sites that they may have merged accidentally or have decided would work better as separate sites.

  1. Locate the SIS Course Merge tool by selecting the Admin Tools gear icon in the top-right of Brightspace.

  1. Search for the desired courses to be unmerged [1] or use Filters to organize the search by semester.

  2. Search for the course code (e.g. ACTG-3P04, IASC-1F01, etc.) to pull up a list of all sites.

  3. Find the merged course site, which will be labeled with a View merged courses link on the right [2].

  1. The list of component courses in the merged site will be displayed. Select the checkbox next to the main course site to auto-select all of the courses and then unmerge. Or, select a specific course site to unmerge from the group.

  2. Use the Unmerge button to unmerge the courses and return them to separate sites.

Please contact CPI at edtech@brocku.ca with any questions or comments about the contents of this site.