Set up Top Hat for a Canvas course with cross-listed sections

• Before you begin
• Option 1: Use a single Top Hat course for all cross-listed sections
• Option 2: Use a separate Top Hat MSM section for each Canvas course section
• Get help

Before you begin

When using Top Hat in conjunction with cross-listed sections, you'll need to decide whether to use a traditional Top Hat course with all students or a multi-section management Top Hat course with separate sections for each Canvas course section. For cross-listed courses in which all students attend lecture together at the same time and place, use a traditional Top Hat course.

If different sections of your course attend lecture at different times, you can either create one Top Hat course for all sections or create a Top Hat multi-section management (MSM) course with a separate Top Hat course section for each of your Canvas course sections. In making this decision, consider the following. Top Hat consultants can also assist you with deciding which approach is best for your situation as part of the Top Hat onboarding process.

• Ease of management:
  • It's easier to manage all the grades for your course in one place; if you set up separate Top Hat sections for each meeting, you'll need to manage grades separately in Top Hat.
  • With separate Top Hat sections, all content is synced from the MSM and cannot be customized at the section level.
• Integrity of student answers:
  • With one course for all sections, students can attend any class meeting without requiring anything special on your part, but they could potentially share questions with students who meet at a later time or answer the questions themselves a second time to improve their grade. Therefore, this approach is most appropriate when Top Hat is used primarily to increase student engagement during lecture and give students the opportunity to practice new knowledge and skills with minimal impact on overall course grade.
  • With separate Top Hat sections, students are only able to attend their specific class meeting.
• Data display and reporting:
  • With one Top Hat course, when displaying results or reviewing reports, the data reflects all sections that have responded to the question thus far. If you want to view or display only the results for the current session or a specific session (for example, to reflect the responses of the students in the room), you need to create separate Top Hat course sections for each class meeting time.

Option 1: Use a single Top Hat course for all cross-listed sections

The process of setting up a single Top Hat course for a Canvas course with cross-listed sections is no different than setting up a single-section Canvas course. Detailed instructions are available in LTI 1.3 (Canvas): Connect a Canvas Course to Top Hat.

Once course mapping is complete, an automatic roster sync is configured and your students will be automatically ported over from Canvas into your Top Hat course. Roster sync will recur each night. To learn more about both automatic and manual roster sync, visit LTI 1.3 (Canvas): Roster Sync.

Option 2: Use a separate Top Hat MSM section for each Canvas course section

1. Create a multi-section course in Top Hat.
2. Add the sections to your Top Hat multi-section course.
3. Add or remove instructors for each Top Hat section, if applicable.

   Section instructors are professors with access to an individual section or sections of a Top Hat multi-section course.

4. Add or remove course coordinators for the Top Hat Multi-Section Management course.

   Course coordinators are professors with access to the Multi-Section Manager for a Top Hat multi-section course.

5. Sync content, course settings, and grades.

Get help

For help with cross-listed courses in Top Hat, you may contact Top Hat Support or your campus teaching and learning center.