Creating Linked Sections in CLSS
- Max Klinkert
Background
What are linked sections?
When a course has multiple components – a lecture section plus either a lab or discussion section – we call those sections “linked.” Students must enroll in both components of the course – they enroll in the lab or discussion and then are automatically enrolled in the lecture.
Linked Sections and the Course Catalog
In order for a course to have multiple linked sections, all of the valid components must exist in the course catalog. If you do not have the option to add all the components you need, first check with your department head to confirm that the course should have multiple components. Once confirmed, contact the Registrar’s Office to update the catalog so that the components are available.
Instructions
All groups of linked sections will have both an enrollment section (lab or discussion) and non-enrollment section (lecture). If you are creating a new group of linked sections, you should create the lecture section first so that you can link the labs or discussions to it.
Step 1: Creating the lecture
When scheduling a lecture section to which lab or discussion sections will be linked, there are three fields that must have specific values:
Component: Must be “Lecture” (not “Lecture - Stand Alone”)
Link To: Must be “Any/All Regular Academic Session Groups.” This allows any lab or discussion section to be linked to the lecture.
Auto Enroll(s): Must be left as “None.” This field will be used on the lab and discussion fields to link to the lecture.
When The “Any/All Regular Academic Session Groups” option is selected, the Final Exam field will be grayed out with the text reading “Not Applicable When Linked to Any/All…” This is normal; setting final exam preferences for lectures with linked labs or discussions should be set using Section Attributes.
Step 2: Creating and linking lab or discussion sections
Once the lecture section has been saved, you can start creating the lab or discussion sections it will be linked to. The only field that needs to be updated to link to the lecture is the “Auto Enroll(s)” field; this should be updated to the section number of the lecture.
Do NOT change the value of the “Link To” field; this should remain as “New Group…” when creating the lab or discussion section.
When creating linked labs and discussions, leave the Link To field as is. Select the section number of the appropriate lecture section in the “Auto Enroll(s)” field. This is all that is required to link to the lecture section.
Other Considerations
Instructors
To ensure that faculty evaluations are created properly, the Primary Instructor of the lecture section should be added as a Secondary Instructor of every linked lab or discussion section. When moving from Design Mode to Refine Mode, CLSS will add the instructor automatically. For sections added in Refine Mode, schedulers will be reminded to set up the instructors this way.
Capacities
CLSS cannot automatically update the capacity of a lecture section when lab or discussion sections are added or deleted/canceled. If adding, deleting, or revising a lab or discussion section will change the total number of seats, be sure to update the lecture section accordingly. If you don’t make this change, the lecture may be assigned to a classroom that is not large enough to accommodate the capacity of the lecture.
Exams
For multiple component courses, the exam should be added to the lecture section, not the linked labs or discussions.
Consent and Reserve Caps
Because the lecture is the non-enrollment section, any consent requirements or reserve capacities should be added to the individual lab or discussion sections as these are the sections into which students are enrolled.