Metacourses and Section Groups

If you are teaching two or more sections of the same course, it is a good idea to request a metacourse. A metacourse is a type of umbrella or parent course that draws its enrollments from child courses that are linked to it. The main advantage of a metacourse is that it allows professors to create and update a single Moodle site for identical sections rather than maintaining multiple Moodle sites.

How do I request a metacourse?

Send an e-mail to IT Helpdesk to request a metacourse. Please include the department, course number, and sections letters for your courses. If you use the Moodle gradebook or any grouped Moodle activities, it will be important to set up groups for each of your sections. Section groups are discussed later in this guide.

How do I make the metacourse visible to students and hide the child courses?

If you are using a metacourse, it is important to make the metacourse (Dept. 111 A/B) visible to students and to make the child courses (Dept. 111A and Dept. 111B) invisible to the students. The child courses are hidden by default (because you requested a metacourse and never made them visible!). For more on the importance of visibility, visit the course visibility guide.

Show metacourse

1. Navigate to the homepage of your metacourse.
2. In the Administration block, select Edit settings.
3. In the Visible drop down menu, select Show.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Save and return.

Hide child courses

1. Navigate to the homepage of a child course.
2. In the Administration block, select Edit settings.
3. In the Visible drop down menu, select Hide.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Save and return.
5. Repeat this process for your other child course(s).

Why should I create section groups in the metacourse?

It is important to create section groups in your metacourse for your gradebook. Groups in the gradebook allow you to view one section at a time instead of sorting through a list of all your students. Note: if you have students who add the course after the first day of class, remember to return to this guide and add the students to the appropriate group. Otherwise, those students will not show up in your gradebook when you view it by section.  At Moodle 3.0, the Moodle Team will create sections groups for you at metacourse creation.

How do I create groups?

1. Navigate to your metacourse homepage. In the Administration block, select More 
2. Select Users, then, select Groups. You will now be on the course group page.
3. Select the Create group button
4. Enter a Group name that includes the section letter.
5. If desired, enter a Group ID number. Generally this can be left blank. The ID number of a group is only used when matching the group against external systems and is not displayed anywhere on the site. If the group has an official code name it may be entered, otherwise the field can be left blank.
6. If desired, enter a Group description.
7. If desired, choose a group picture.
8. Select Save changes.
9. Repeat this process for other section groups as necessary.

How do I add users to a group?

1. On the course group page, select the group in the Groups list on the left.
2. Select Add/remove users on the right.
3. You are now on the Add/Remove users page. Search for members to add on the right. Alternatively, hold down the Control Key while clicking to select multiple users. You may find it useful to refer to a physical list of students in each section.
4. Select Add.
5. When finished editing group membership, select Back to groups on the bottom left of the page.
6. Repeat this process for other section groups.