2Gether - learn more together

Volume 4, Issue 3
Quarter 3, 2008
Sections Solve Multiple Course Management Scenarios

WAYNE ELLIOTT, Instructional Technologist, Learning Management System Administrator, Monmouth University

In the last edition of 2gether, Bob Stoddart (Secondary Coordinator, South Island Distance Education School) shared how SIDES was Using Sections to Manage Difficult Enrolment Conditions.

In this edition, Wayne Elliott (Learning Management System Administrator, Monmouth University) demonstrates other solutions sections can also provide.


At Monmouth University we have tried to set up as many integrations with our Desire2Learn Learning Environment as possible. In order to automatically create and populate our course offerings within the LMS, one of our first integrations was with our Student Information System (SIS). During our planning with Desire2Learn's Implementation Services, we were asked if we wanted course enrollments to be set up as groups or sections. We decided the flexibility of sections, primarily the ability to combine multiple course sections into one course offering, would best meet Monmouth University's needs.

Each semester, a number of courses are crosslisted between multiple departments. For example, CE 101 (chemistry) and BY 101 (biology) are taught by the same instructor and meet at the same time, but students will register for the course that fulfills their program requirements. When our integration runs, a course offering is created for each of the listings, even though they are the same course.

Using "Section enrollments" we are able to combine the two courses using the administrative Course Mappings tool. At night our batch process runs and the enrollments for the courses are combined. The instructor and students see one course listed on their My Courses area. Within the course, the instructor is able to view the Dropbox, Grades, and Classlist by section if needed.

"In the CE and BY example above, if an instructor has content that may be pertinent to biology students, a release condition based on section enrollment can be created for that topic/module so only the appropriate students see it."

We also have instances where an instructor will teach multiple sections of the same course. Often times these courses have the same content, assignments, and grade settings. Again, using the Course Mappings tool we are able to merge these multiple sections into one course offering. Instructors appreciate this as they do not need to upload the same materials to multiple course offerings and assignments can be collected and managed in one area. As an added benefit, this opens up opportunities for the students to interact across course sections, such as in the Discussions and Chat tools. While this combination of courses can be beneficial, due dates and events are sometimes difficult to manage. All in all, our instructors who combine their course sections are very pleased.