Create and manage coordinator courses

Updated 19 Feb 2024

Coordinator courses allow a senior instructor, department head, course coordinator, or administrator to create and manage multiple sections of a single course that will be taught by one or more other instructors.

Using coordinator courses lets you:

Modify a single course template and make multiple copies of it in one step.
Create and analyze reports that display data for one, some, or all course sections at once.

Not all courses have coordinator versions available.

Course types

Each coordinator course group comprises a coordinator course and two or more sections:

A coordinator course (or primary course) is the template for all courses in a course group. Students are not allowed to enroll in coordinator courses.
A section (or member course) is a copy of the coordinator course that remains linked to it for reporting purposes. Students are enrolled in the member courses.

Instructor types

To maintain alignment between the courses in a course group, instructors play one of two roles:

The coordinator creates the coordinator course and is the primary instructor for all member courses. The coordinator uses the coordinator course to manage the course features and content in those courses.
The section instructor teaches one or more member courses but has only the access specified by the coordinator. This is a faculty member assigned to teach a section of a course.
The teaching assistant teaches one or more member course and has only the access specified by the coordinator. This is a student promoted to teaching assistant in the course roster.

Coordinators

Only the coordinator can change the coordinator course. The coordinator can add, remove, or modify assets; assign course materials; change course and activity preferences; and so on. The coordinator also controls whether section instructors can access the course roster in their section.

Section instructors and teaching assistants

The section instructor teaches a member course but can access to only those features and functionality specified by the coordinator. The coordinator can assign the section instructor role to another instructor. Students can also be assigned sections of a course and are called teaching assistants. For more information, see Section Instructor List.

Teaching assistants cannot access the Instructor Resource Center (IRC). The IRC can only be accessed by users who have been vetted through the Instructor Validation process and who have registered using an Educator access code. Section Instructors can request access to the IRC. An Educator access code can be used to add this access to a Section Instructor account, as a user can have both full instructor access and Section Instructor access within the same account.

Create coordinator course groups

Creating a course group with a coordinator course and multiple sections involves six basic steps:

The coordinator creates a coordinator course either by creating a new coordinator course or by copying an existing coordinator course.
The coordinator makes additions, modifications, and deletions to the coordinator course to prepare it to be copied. The coordinator also hides the administrative tools in the course.
The coordinator grants permissions to section instructors and teaching assistants.
The coordinator creates the sections in the coordinator course and forwards the course creation confirmation for each section to the appropriate section instructor an teaching assistant. After the sections are created, the coordinator redisplays the administrative tools in the coordinator course so that he or she can use it to display and analyze data for any, some, or all the sections.
Each teaching assistant enrolls in his or her section using a student access code. Section instructors enroll as an instructor.
Within the teaching assistant’s course, the coordinator changes the status of the enrolled instructor from “student” to “teaching assistant” and also gives the instructor access to the course roster for the section.

Not all courses have coordinator versions available.