Introduction
Canvas is Virginia Tech's learning management system (LMS). Instructors use Canvas to manage teaching materials like assignments, quizzes, feedback, and student grades.
- Official courses are automatically created in instructors' Canvas accounts.
- Enrolled students are automatically added.
- Instructors can reuse teaching materials by importing them to a new course site.
- Canvas provides 24-7 support by phone (833-639-7621) and chat (click Help on any Canvas screen).
The Canvas Instructor Guide and the Canvas Student Guide have full instructions on using Canvas. These instructions are specific to Virginia Tech. To see other Canvas topics, please see:
Contents
Instructions
Background on Cross-listing
If you're teaching more than one section of a course, you can cross-list their Canvas sites.
CAUTION:
- Cross-list before publishing! Do not cross-list sites after you publish them, because you might lose student submissions. Cross-list your sections before students submit material, ideally before publishing the sites.
- You need to be a Teacher! You can only cross-list sites if you're a Teacher. To cross-list sites with different Teachers, add one person as a Teacher to all the sites. That person can then cross-list them. See How do I add users to a course?
- Don't try to cross-list draft sites! You cannot cross-list draft course sites with automatically-created official course sites. Cross-list the official course sites, then import the content into the combined site.
- Make the home department the parent course! If you cross-list sections in different departments, the parent course in Canvas must be the home department in Banner, or SPOTs might not be accurate. If you're not sure which is the home department, contact your department's SPOT administrator.
- Don't cross-list to "move" teaching materials! Only the teaching materials in the parent course show up in the cross-listed course. Keep teaching materials in a draft course site, then import materials into the cross-listed site.
- A Canvas admin must remove the cross-list! If you make a mistake, contact 4Help by clicking Get Help on the 4Help portal. Request your Canvas sites be de-cross-listed.
Definitions
Terminology |
Definition |
| Official Course Site | Canvas sites that were automatically created through the university’s Registrar/HokieSPA timetable system — typically with a Course Request Number (CRN) and auto-added student enrollments. |
| Manually Created Course Site (or Draft Site) | Courses that were manually created (such as sandbox, project, or training sites not linked to the Registrar) by clicking Start a New Course in your Canvas Dashboard. |
| Parent Site |
The parent site serves as the main course site where teaching materials are centrally managed and shared across multiple sections. If you teach multiple sections of the same course, you can designate one site to be the parent site and cross-list child sites. This setup brings student enrollments from other sections into the parent site, allowing you to maintain content in one site. |
| Child Site(s) |
Child sites are individual course sites that are linked to a parent site through cross-listing. After cross-listing, student enrollments remain tied to the section that they registered for in HokieSPA, but all course content and communication are managed from the parent site. Students in child sections may be confused when accessing the Canvas site, but please reassure them that their section is simply cross-listed under the parent site. |
| SIS ID |
SIS IDs are unique identifiers for a course and have a specific naming convention. For example, for the SIS ID MGT_3304_88143_202509:
|
Cross-listing Sections
To cross-list official course sites:
- Go to the site that you want to use as the parent site.
- This is the site where you will build your Canvas course content.
- Click on Settings in the course navigation menu, then copy the SIS ID.
- Go to the child site to be cross-listed under the parent and click on Settings in the course navigation menu.
- Click on the Sections tab. One section will be listed.
- Click on the section's SIS ID.
- Click Cross-List this Section.
- In the Search for Course field in the popup, paste the parent site's SIS ID that you copied in step 2.
- Please be sure to use the Search for Course field. If you choose to use the Enter the Course's ID field and a red warning appears, see I'm getting an error that my course ID is not authorized for cross-listing.
- Please be sure to use the Search for Course field. If you choose to use the Enter the Course's ID field and a red warning appears, see I'm getting an error that my course ID is not authorized for cross-listing.
- The parent site should appear in the drop down menu. Click on the parent site's name.
- Under Selected Course, double check the course SIS ID. Then click Cross-List This Section.
- Repeat the procedure for other child sites.
- Verify all sections appear in the parent site by going to the parent site, clicking Settings, and then clicking on the Sections tab. You should see all of the cross-listed sections.
Additional Cross-listing Recommendations
The option to limit a user to only interact with other users in the same course section can only be applied in bulk at the time of enrollment and must be applied individually once students are already enrolled in a course site.
These are a few examples where students need to enroll in different sections for administrative reasons but should interact across sections:
- Classes that contain both undergraduate students and graduate students.
- Students sign up for different lab sections but attend the same lecture class.
- Classes that have sections in different departments to accommodate students in their respective majors.
If you need stricter settings, there are options that you can take if your sites are cross-listed and you do not want students to view students in other sections. Cross-listing remains FERPA compliant at Virginia Tech, so any of these approaches would keep your course in compliance.
Create Groups
Use the “Require group members to be in the same section” option when creating groups. This ensures that students are only grouped with others in their own section.
See more details here: How do I create group sets and course groups?
Limit Visibility
Hide the People tool to prevent students from seeing the full roster.
If you’d like to prevent students from viewing the names of course members or directly messaging students in any section, you can hide the People tool in your course navigation. This prevents students from directly viewing the full roster, though they can still message the whole class via the Inbox tool.
To hide the People tool:
- Go to Settings in your course site.
- Click on the Navigation tab.
- Click the three dots next to People and select Disable.
- Scroll to the bottom and click Save.
- The People tool will now display the hidden eye icon for you as the teacher, but will not display for students.
De–Cross-list
If you’d prefer to keep your sections completely separate, you can request to have your courses de–cross-listed.
Go to the 4Help Portal, log in, and click Get Help. Write that you need help from TLOS with de-cross-listing Canvas sites, and provide the CRNs of the sites that you wish to de-cross-list from the parent Canvas site.
De-Cross-listing Sections
If you made a mistake when cross-listing your Canvas sections, a TLOS admin will need to assist you to de-cross-list your sites.
Go to the 4Help Portal, log in, and click Get Help. Write that you need help from TLOS with de-cross-listing Canvas sites, and provide the CRNs of the sites that you wish to de-cross-list from the parent Canvas site. We can assist you at this time to re-cross-list your sites if needed.
Common Errors
I'm having trouble finding courses I need to cross-list
You can only cross-list sites if you're a Teacher. Go to HokieSpa and check the Timetable to make sure you're listed as the instructor of record for your course request numbers (CRNs).
To cross-list sites with different Teachers, add one person as a Teacher to all the sites. That person can then cross-list them. See How do I add users to a course?
I'm getting an error that my course ID is not authorized for cross-listing
Please be sure to use the Search for Course field when locating your course site. If you choose to use the Enter the Course's ID field instead, you may receive a warning in red text stating that the course ID is not authorized for cross-listing.
Please refresh the page, paste in the Course's ID, and click enter. Repeat until the error does not show up, then click Cross-list This Section to complete the cross-list.
Getting Help
For instructions on resolving common issues with Canvas, see:
- Troubleshooting Canvas (for Instructors)
- Troubleshooting Canvas (For Students)
- Recommended Browser Privacy and Security Settings for Canvas
Instructure, the creators of Canvas, provide 24-7 Canvas support, including live chat and a support hotline.
To get Canvas help, click Help on any Canvas screen and choose from help options:
- Search the Canvas Guides: Search Canvas documentation.
- Chat with Canvas Support: Open a chat window in Canvas (or call the phone number).
- Contact Virginia Tech 4Help: Submit an incident on 4Help or call 540-231-4357.
- Browse Virginia Tech Resources: See other Canvas Knowledge Base articles.
- Report a Problem: Submit a Canvas support case by filling out a short form.
- Ask the Community: Go to Canvas user community resources.
- Submit a Feature Idea: Search a list of current feature idea conversations. Add to an existing conversation or start your own!