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How do I link multiple sections of my course together?

Question​

I teach more than one section of the same course. Can I link them together so I only have to build materials once?

Answer​

Yes — Schoology calls this linking sections, and it works around a master section / child section structure: you pick one section to be the master, and the others become children linked to it. From then on, an assignment (or other material) you create in the master section is automatically copied to all of its child sections, so you build it once instead of repeating the work per section.

What stays shared and what stays separate:

  • Materials are shared, from the master outward. Create an assignment in the master section and it's copied to every child section. You can still choose which child sections a given piece of material goes to instead of sending it to all of them.
  • Gradebooks and enrollment stay separate. Each section keeps its own roster and its own gradebook — linking materials doesn't merge grades or students across sections.

To link sections, all of the following have to be true:

  • The sections belong to the same course (same course code).
  • The sections are in the same grading period.
  • The sections have the same Course Admin(s).
  • No student is enrolled in more than one of the sections you're linking.

What happens if the sections already have content​

Which section keeps its content is consistent — it's whichever one you designate as the master section:

  • The master section keeps everything. Its materials, setup, grades, and data all survive, and become the shared set that copies out to the child sections going forward.
  • Child sections lose their own pre-existing content. Whatever materials, grades, or data a section already had before you made it a child are not recoverable — this is true whether you link or later unlink.
  • Student assignment submissions in a child section are also not recoverable. This isn't limited to teacher-created materials.

In other words, linking isn't a merge — it's "pick a winner." So:

  • Pick the master deliberately. Make it the section with the most content already built out, or the one you'd rather keep working in — not just whichever one happens to be listed first.
  • Export your gradebook from every section first, from Gradebook → Export, before linking anything. This is your own backup, independent of whatever Schoology does internally.
  • If a child section has real content you can't afford to lose (its own assignments, submissions, grades), the safe answer is: don't link it. Export its gradebook, keep it separate, and accept the duplicate upkeep — that's less costly than losing that section's work.
  • Link before any of the sections have real content whenever you can — that sidesteps this decision entirely.
  1. Confirm you're a Course Admin on all the sections involved — see How do I become a course admin?
  2. Decide which section will be the master section (see above).
  3. From the course's section list, click the gear icon next to the section you want as master and choose the option to link child sections to it, per Schoology's Section Linking documentation.
  4. If the option isn't available to you, the system-level permission that allows Course Admins to link sections may not be turned on — e-mail June to have it enabled or to have the sections linked for you.