Is there a way to make a unified discussion board between two courses?

Question

I have a class that I teach that is actually two courses  taught concurrently. By this I mean that the content is the same, they are taught at the same time, and in the same room. The difference is that some students are taking it as a credit course and others are taking it as a Continuing Education course, meaning that it is only to learn skills, not to advance towards a degree.

The problem is that part of the class is graded upon a discussion board topic that students are required to reply to other students. I have 20 students in the credit version and one student in the CE version, all alone. Is there a way to create a discussion board topic that is shared between both courses so that all of the students will be able to see each other's responses and reply to one another?

Chris_Hofer · Accepted Answer

@JohnVogel ...

It sounds like cross-listing these courses together might be a good solution.  Normally, cross-listing should be done before the courses begin...so as to not cause headaches down the road.  Cross-listing can move enrollments from one course into another, and you can identify which sections the students are in by looking at your "People" page.  So, you could cross-list your CE course into your credit version...and all students from both courses would access content through the credit version of the course (you and the CE student would also access the course through the credit version).

You may not be able to cross-list courses on your own.  You may have to ask your school's local Canvas administrator or someone from their Online Learning / eLearning / Distance Learning team to help you with this.  But, the instructions to do this are located at:

* How do I cross-list a section in a course as an admin?
* How do I cross-list a section in a course as an instructor?
* Cross-Listing Overview (Instructors)

When cross-listing, you want to be first logged in to the CE course.  Then, follow the steps in the Guide and select the credit course.  Once the cross-list is complete, log into the credit course, and you should see enrollments from both courses in there.

Be aware that cross-listing only moves enrollments...it does not move course content.

Sing out if you have other questions about this.  Good luck!