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Course Combination

Instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course, or a course with both graduate and undergraduate course numbers, sometimes find it helpful to have their ReggieNet course sites combined into one. Instructors can make their own course combination requests through Campus Solutions.

Access the Form

To access the course combination form, do the following:

• Go to My.IllinoisState.edu/Academics (You may need to enter your ULID and password)
• Scroll to the "Teaching" section
• Select "ReggieNet Course Combination Requests"
• The following instructions can help you navigate the Campus Solutions interface.
• Fill out the form. 

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Open a browser, go to My.ilstu.edu, and log in with your ULID and password. Click on the Academics tab; the link for requesting a course combination is located under “Teaching”.
2. You should see the LMS Course Combination Request window.
3. Click on the magnifying glass icon next to the Term box.
   
4. Click on the correct term. The term number (e.g. 2192 for Fall 2018) will now be entered in the term box. Click the Add button.
5. The following screen will appear:
   
6. You can provide a rationale for your request in the box labeled “Instructor Request Note”. This is not generally needed for simply combining 2 sections of the same course.
7. Click on the Save/Review button; then click the Submit Button. This will complete your request. You should get a pop-up message indicating that an email has been sent to the Registrar’s office.

The Registrar’s office will then approve the request. You will receive an email notice that the request has been either approved or denied. Once approved, the course site should be created in ReggieNet within the next 12 hours.   

What Happens Next?

Once your request is submitted, the Registrar’s Office approves or denies the request.

• When your request is granted, students from all course sections are merged and the content for the course is housed only in the combined course site rather than duplicated for multiple sections.
• Once approved, the ReggieNet system creates the new combined course shell, generates a unique name, and loads all students and the instructor into the new course.
• The instructor uses combined course like any other ReggieNet course.
• At semester end, grades for all students are passed from the combined course to the Registrar’s system.

Warning: Once a new combined course is created, students from all sections are merged together in one roster for the combined course. This may affect how you use Gradebook, e-mails and other course site activities. One way to manage this is to create groups in their new combined course based on the course sections that were combined (see below). Additionally, since the grade submission process will be tied with the new combined course, we recommend against using the Gradebook function of the original sections.

Create Groups for Each Section

The easiest way to create a group for each section is to export the Student IDs to a spreadsheet, insert the section information, and upload. Use the following steps for each section.

Create your list

1. In the individual section course site, go to Gradebook > Import / Export and click on “Custom Export”
2. Uncheck all items except “Student ID”
3. Click “Download Custom Export”
4. Open the file. There should be a single column containing ULIDs
5. Insert a column before the first column and enter a group name (e.g. “Sec 2”) in all the rows
6. Delete the first row (the headers)
7. Save as a CSV file

Import your list

1. In the combined course in ReggieNet, go to Site Info > Manage Groups > Bulk Creation
2. Click the “Browse” button
3. Find and select the file containing your list
4. Click “Continue”. You should see a preview of the group being created
5. Click “Bulk Create Groups”

Getting Help

For technical issues involving Campus Solutions, please contact the Technology Support Center at (309) 438-HELP.