ARCHIVED: Using Oncourse, how do I combine course sites into a single parent site?

If the course you're teaching has several sections, you can combine the course sites for each section into a single parent site, so that you need to maintain only one syllabus, calendar, and set of course materials.

Notes:

• This is a separate feature from the ability to link to a parent site described in ARCHIVED: Linking to a parent site. That option creates a purely navigational link between separate sites; the option described below combines the rosters, so the sites function as one.
• It's best to combine course sites before adding content (e.g., Calendar items, assignments, forums, announcements). When you combine sites, content from the individual sites is not automatically transferred to the parent site, and all the tools in the individual sites are disabled. However, if you want to combine rosters for course sites that already contain content, you can still import instructor-generated content (e.g., announcements, assignments, tool settings) into the parent site after combining; see the "Importing material with combined course sites" section of ARCHIVED: Importing material or participants from another site you own.
• To successfully combine course sites using IU eTexts, all the associated classes must have the same digital titles adopted, and you should not combine the course sites until after the titles are loaded in Oncourse. You'll receive email notification when your titles are loaded (normally, between 30 and 60 days before the beginning of the term for titles adopted by the deadline). For more, see About IU eTexts.

You cannot import material submitted to a site, such as completed assignments, forum postings, or grades; you must save or download such content from your site manually. After combining course sites, you cannot easily access this material in the original site, as tools on the original site are automatically disabled upon combining. However, to access material on the original sites, you can use Worksite Setup from My Workspace to enable the tools you need. See ARCHIVED: Adding, removing, hiding, or reordering tools.

To combine course sites (i.e., sections) into one parent site:

1. In one of the sites you wish to combine with others, from the menubar, click Site Setup.
2. Near the top, click Combine Rosters.
3. On the "Combine Rosters" screen, check the boxes to select the sections you want to combine. If you already have a parent site created, you'll see the Choose a Destination option, which will allow you to create a new parent site or join the section to an existing parent site. When you've made your selection(s), click Continue.

   Note: The site from which you accessed Site Setup is selected automatically. Also, sections that are combined into another parent site will be listed, but will have grayed-out checkboxes.

4. If you select sections that differ by campus, department, or course number, you'll be prompted to choose a name for your parent site. Use the radio buttons to make your selection, and then click Continue.
5. Click Finish to confirm your request to combine rosters.

Once you click Finish, a new site will appear either as a new tab or as a new entry in the More Sites drop-down list. It will have a new number located after the name, which will include a "C" to indicate a combined section. If you no longer wish to see the individual sections, you can remove them from your tabs; see ARCHIVED: Showing, hiding, and ordering sites.

Things to consider

• Selective release: When you're adding an item in certain tools, a parent site will allow you to display the item to a specific section. To do so, use the Display to selected groups option when you're adding a new item. Tools with this selective release option are Announcements, Assignments, Calendar, and Resources.
• Redirecting users to the parent site: When a user clicks a site that's been combined into a parent site, the user will be automatically redirected to the parent site.
• Adding and removing students: When you add a student (or when one is added automatically) to a course site that's been combined into a parent site, the system automatically adds that student to the parent site. If you added a student manually to the original site, you must remove that student from the original site; otherwise, the automatic update from the original (child) site will override changes made in the combined site. However, if the student was never present in any of the child sites, you can add or remove the person in the parent site manually without the changes being overridden.

  Note: Although most tools are disabled in the original site after combining, Site Setup is still available. Click Site Setup within 45 seconds of accessing the original site to avoid being automatically redirected to the combined site.

• Separating combined rosters: After you combine rosters, you may want to separate one or more of them from the parent site. To do so, from the menubar in My Workspace, click Worksite Setup, check the box next to the site you wish to separate, and then click Edit. Then, near the top, click Separate Rosters.
• Course sites only: This functionality is not available for project sites.

Feature demonstrations

• Combining Rosters