Information for Faculty
Greetings Faculty,
We have some updates for you on Canvas course merge/unmerge requests, and FERPA guidelines as they related to merged Canvas shells.
Course Merge/Unmerge Request Deadlines
- Distance Education sends out an announcement twice a year inviting faculty who wish to change the course merge preference for the Fall/Spring terms to complete a request form. Faculty can also contact Distance Education to request a course merge preference change.
- Effective Winter 2024, course merge/unmerge change requests need to be made before the start of the term. Changes can NOT be made to course merge preference after the course has begun.
Most faculty prefer course shells merged so they do not have to manage multiple shells and to minimize their effort when uploading documents, sending emails, and posting other item. However import Canvas courses into new course shells to manage unmerged courses is also a relatively seamless process.
FERPA Compliance and Merged Canvas Shells
- The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)* mandates that students only have access to (peer) student information (like student names, for example) for course sections they are enrolled in. This means that students may not interact in Canvas with students from another course section even if the two sections are merged into one Canvas course shell.
- Faculty with merged Canvas Course Shells will have two options:
- Adapt their merge Canvas Course Shells to meet FERPA guidelines (DE will explain this option in the informational webinar).
- Unmerge Canvas Shells (DE will explain this option in the informational webinar and individual faculty can determine if this works best for them).
- Effective Winter 2024, course merge/unmerge change requests need to be made before the start of the term. Changes can NOT be made to course merge preference after the course has begun.
*FERPA restrictions do not apply to merged Canvas course if students meet in the same classroom at the same time. For example, if the course is cross-listed in the schedule.
For complete details on what this means to faculty members, please visit Faculty Merged Section Request Changes - FERPA 2024
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding and please reach out to distance_ed_inquiry@smc.edu should you need further clarification about this change.
DE is pleased to announce that SMC faculty now have access to the Pope Tech Accessibility Dashboard, in addition to the existing Pope Tech Accessibility Guides.
The Pope Tech Dashboard allows faculty to check accessibility for all their Canvas course shells in one convenient place. Instructors have a summary dashboard of all their courses and individual views of each course. They can also drill into the Accessibility Guide right from their dashboard to view and fix issues.
Faculty can also access the Pope Tech Documentation guides for use within Canvas which include help videos and articles for both the Pope Tech Accessibility Guide and Canvas Pope Tech Accessibility Dashboards.
If you have further questions about this new feature, please contact distance_ed_inquiry@smc.edu .
DE Team
For help with any technology that isn't related to Canvas, please use the links below.
- Meet our Faulty Support Staff
- Contact Us: Faculty inquiry form
- Inquiry Email: distance_ed_inquiry@smc.edu
- Faculty FAQs
Don't miss these upcoming training sessions. Topics including: Canvas Tools, Accessibility, Online Communication and much more. New opportunities available every semester.