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Blueprints are special Canvas shells that attached to one or more other shells within the same quarter.  Assignments, file, point values, due dates, and many other aspects of a course can be synced up, with the blueprint acting as a parent, handing down materials to the associated, child shells.

Watch this overview video or read this overview PDF.

Please note that a live course CANNOT become a blueprint course.  Blueprint courses are created manually upon request.  Additionally, a blueprint course will always have the following naming scheme:

• BLUEPRINT_<Course>_<Quarter>_<Last name of requestor>

Almost every Canvas function is copied between the Blueprint and its associated courses.  Some functions can be deselected for copy, including point values, due dates, and availability dates for assignments.  You can also manually lock and unlock individual course items for copy.

Anything using an outside tool that is not embedded in a Canvas assignment or page will not transfer from a Blueprint to the associated courses.  For example, Panopto videos that are not embedded in a page or selected as the external tool in an assignment will not be copied from a blueprint to a live course.  This functions similar to course imports.

If an item was changed in a associated course, that item will not be overwritten by syncing to the blueprint.  Changing the item in the associated course "decouples" it from the Blueprint, leaving it unable to be updated at all.  For example, if you change the text of an assignment in the associated, live course, the assignment will not be updated if you change it in the blueprint.  All changes, if absolutely possible, should be done in the Blueprint.

FERPA maintains that students have a right to privacy regarding what courses they are taking.  Students may only know who is in the same class they are currently taking, but the public (such as other students) should not know who is in what class, even between courses with the same subject and topic.  This significantly restricts what courses individuals can be added to.  Please use the following guidelines for determining if your courses can be combined together:

• Clustered Courses will be combined upon request.  Clusters must be delineated in ctcLink.
• ALP or Learning Community Courses may be combined.  Notification of the students and clustering is recommended.  
• When courses take place at the same time at the same location; this may be a portion of the class, like a lab time or field work, as long as all students in all courses to be combined will see one another.  This must be confirmed inside of Class Finder.
• When courses share a common course that students must be concurrently enrolled in.  For example, if two lab sections to be combined require all students to be enrolled in the same section of a lecture course.
• Classes that involve program-oriented cohorts that have some class time over the course of the quarter can be combined so long as the the proper documentation filed with eLearning.  Proper documentation must show students that they will be meeting with with other classes and must be presented ahead of enrolling in the class.  Cohort documentation presented to students in an orientation with a list of courses they'll be taking with their cohort and which might meet at the same time are a good example of this requirement.
• Courses with online components lead to some complications regarding combining them.
  • Regarding asynchronous online courses, according to the state AAG, no online, asynchronous courses may be combined, even if they have a note stating that courses meet together. 
  • Synchronous online courses (those that say they meet in Zoom for a location in Class Finder, for instance), must have the same time and instructor, and they must both have a note that the courses will meet together in Class Finder. 
  • For hybrid courses, the in-person component must meet together for the courses to be combined.
• Courses that were combined in the past due to historical precedent can no longer be combined based on this exception.  All course combines must fulfill any of the requirements above or have approval for combination from your dean.  They will be contacted for confirmation.

Note: this list was updated on 9/11/2023.

The process that combines courses happens immediately upon our setting them to combine.

• Existing courses will be added to the Canvas shell with the lowest course number as separate sections.  For example, if we are asked to combine 15472, 15473, and 15474, when the process is finished, both 15473 and 15474 will be added to 15472 as sections inside that shell.
• Existing instructors will be removed from all shells that are not the one with the lowest course number.
• When students are enrolled, they will be added to the appropriate section inside of your Course.
• Within 12 hours, the now-unused shells will be deleted.
• Your course's name will change:
  • If all sections share the same course ID (e.g. ELL 009), the course will be listed with the course ID followed by an X, followed by the other details for the course.  For example, three CHEM&101 courses would begin with "CHEM&101 - X".
  • If sections have different course IDs, the IDs will be listed in order, followed by an X, followed by the other details for the course.  For example, a combined Film and Humanities course that is clustered will start with "FILM191/HUMAN191 - X". 
  • If all courses are in the same department but the numbers are different, only the ID number will appear, as in "MUSIC131/132/133 - X".

If your courses are unable to be combined due to FERPA, we recommend using a blueprint shell to help coordinate your courses.  You can find more information on blueprints on the Blueprint Information page.

If your courses are able to be combined based upon the above qualifications, you can send us an email with the following:

• The class numbers of your course shells that you'd like combined (the four-to-five digit number for the individual section that can be found in ctcLink and ClassFinder);
• The qualification the course meets to be combined.
• If the courses to be combined are taught by multiple instructors, the permission of all instructors involved.

Once we receive your email, we will research and confirm the qualification, then combine the courses if we are allowed to under FERPA guidelines.

A Template Course is a permanent Canvas course meant to upload materials into that will see consistent use over the course of quarters in live course.  Materials can be edited inside the course to be kept up to date, including Panopto videos and documents.  For example, if an instructor teaches the same course every Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters, they can use a Template Course to house everything, edit it for the next quarter, then import it into the live course when it's needed.

Templates are especially useful when the same course is taught by various instructors and there are standard lessons and materials between each course.  Using a Template Course, multiple instructors could collaborate to create the course, then import the materials everyone contributed to into their live courses.

A template course is NOT a blueprint: it's not attached to sync up with a live course.  Blueprints live for one quarter, while Templates are meant to be used over the course of quarters.  Materials in a Template Course should be imported into the live course once when you're finished editing them in the Template Course.

• We will create a special Canvas course named for the course it's meant to be, such as "Template - IT 114."
• We'll add all faculty requested to the shell.
• Instructors will create or import materials into the shell to be edited and housed.
• Each quarter the materials are used, the instructor(s) will import them from the Template Course into the live course.

NOTE: Please do not have contents already in the courses you wish to associate with the Blueprint Course; this can result in doubling up in course materials.