08-Banner Integration: Crosslisting
Last updated by neal.legler 4 years agoCrosslisting ☠
As an admin, you will come across courses that have crosslisted sections. Crosslisting is Banner terminology that we tend to use with Canvas, even though in Canvas it really just means moving multiple sections into the same course so they all get the same content.
In Banner, if a group of sections all belong to the same course that meets at the same time with the same teacher and same content, they get crosslisted. This means they are all given a matching 4-character crosslist code that indicates they belong together. This happens in most distance education courses, because a section is created for every statewide campus.
When sections are crosslisted in Banner, Canvas creates a single course to hold all of the crosslisted sections. It gives it the name of the section with the lowest course registration number (CRN) a nd adds an XL (standing for Cross List … get it?) at the end.
Crosslisting example 1
This is what is entered into Banner for one Summer 2021 online English 1010 course with 12 statewide sections:
Section | Statewide Campus | CRN | Crosslist (Xlist) Code |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-AO1 | Blanding | 35443 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-BO1 | Brigham City | 35437 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-CO1 | Southwest (Ephraim) | 35444 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-EO1 | Moab | 35438 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-KO1 | Kaysville | 35439 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-MO1 | Logan (Main) | 35436 (lowest CRN) | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-NO1 | Orem | 35440 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-PO1 | Price (USU Eastern) | 35441 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-SO1 | Salt Lake | 35442 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-TO1 | Tooele | 35445 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-UO1 | Uintah Basin | 35446 | BBSV |
Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-ZO1 | Out of State | 35447 | BBSV |
In this example, students living in Blanding, for instance, would enroll in the AO1 section in Banner and be added to the AO1 section in Canvas. That section, along with the 11 others, is added to a course in Canvas titled Summer 2021 ENGL-1010-MO1 XL . The title, you will note, is taken from the name of the section with the lowest CRN. An XL is added at the end.
The course containing all of the crosslisted sections is given an SIS ID of BBSV202130, which is the crosslist code followed by the Banner term code. Below is what the Canvas course settings look like:
Below is a view of the Sections tab of the Canvas course settings, which shows all of the sections combined together. Notice how each section has its own SIS ID, which is the course registration number (CRN) of the section and the Banner termcode. You can also see the number of users in each section. This is the number of students and teachers.
Crosslisting example 2
Crosslisting can also occur when a single course is offered for multiple disciplines and programs. For example, this is what is entered in Banner for a folklore course offered for the English, Anthropology, and History departments in Spring 2020:
Section | Department/Program | CRN | Crosslist (Xlist) Code |
ANTH-2210-001 | Anthropology | 14512 | 0191 |
ENGL-2210-001 | English | 13556 | 0191 |
HIST-2210-001 | History | 14513 | 0191 |
The title of the Canvas course containing the sections is Spring 2020 ENGL-2210-001 XL . It has an SIS ID of 0191202020 (the XLIST code and the Term Code). This is what the course settings look like in Canvas:
And again, here is a view of the sections, combined into one, in the sections tab of th Canvas settings. Note the section SIS IDs with the CRN and termcode, plus the number of users per section.
Crosslisting complicates things
If you’re still struggling to make sense of crosslisting, don’t read the next part. Find another Canvas admin and ask questions until it makes more sense.
Crosslisting--the idea of combining sections that belong together into the same course--is a simple enough idea, but its implementation complicates things in the following ways:
1. Crosslisting results in lots of empty courses in Canvas
When section data from Banner is first imported into Canvas, a new Canvas course is created for every single section--even if the sections are crosslisted. Then crosslisting data is then imported, which causes Canvas to create a new course into which it will combine all of the crosslisted sections. The crosslisted sections are then moved out of their original courses and into the new crosslisted course. The end result is a lot of empty courses, similarly named.
When you are searching for courses, you can filter these out by checking the box to “Hide courses without students.”
2. Crosslisted courses have different SIS IDs than non-crosslisted courses
The SIS ID of the active course in Canvas will be different depending on whether it has crosslisted sections or not. If a course doesn’t have crosslisted sections, the one course section remains in the course originally created for it, which has an SIS ID of the CRN and the Banner term code. However, if sections are crosslisted, they get moved to a new course that has an SIS ID of the crosslist code and term code.
3. Changes to crosslisting in Banner removes people from their courses
Sometimes the scheduling office crosslists courses that weren’t previously crosslisted or uncrosslists courses that were. This automatically moves sections (through live event updates) to different courses than they were in before, removing people from their content and leading them to believe it was suddenly lost. This can be resolved by moving sections back to the original course. However, sometimes SIS IDs need to be edited so that Banner live events don’t move sections right back out again.
Manual “Crosslisting” in Canvas
Most of the time, sections are combined into one Canvas course by Banner and its Canvas integration. However, it is possible to manually move sections from one Canvas course to another using the Canvas crosslisting feature . (Honestly, it would make more sense if this feature were named “move section” in Canvas, but this is an example of how pervasive the SIS influence is on LMS design.)
The manual crosslisting feature in Canvas can be used in a pinch to resolve issues caused by sudden changes to crosslisting in Banner. However, the feature should be handled with care.
Faculty want special crosslisting arrangements in Canvas that the Banner integration won’t permit.
Faculty know that sections can be combined into a single course in Canvas in a way that is different from how they were set up in Banner, and often ask for this to be done for a variety of reasons. However, because the Banner integration enforces Banner settings in Canvas, more often than not Banner will undo any manual crosslisting changes made in Canvas. This means faculty sometimes have to be told that they must manage content in multiple courses. Blueprint courses can sometimes help with that.
