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Guide to the Lifecycle of Sections and Courses
Guide to the Lifecycle of Sections and Courses

Understand the best practices for archiving and organizing Sections and Courses on CodeHS

Lea Sloan avatar
Written by Lea Sloan
Updated over a week ago

Sections on CodeHS are optimized for a single school year. The best way to keep your Sections App organized is to:

  1. Archive sections after the current school year ends, and

  2. Create new Sections using your own course or a CodeHS course from the Course Catalog for the upcoming school year.

The sections in your Sections App are organized according to their school year. Over the summer, the school year will end and your sections will be grouped with the previous year. Any new sections will be created for the current school year.

An image of the Sections App's "My Sections" tool with a list of sections for the school year 2023 - 2024

Courses vs. Sections

What's the difference between a Course and a Section?

  • Within CodeHS, a Course is a sequence of curriculum that your students will work through. Courses are made up of Assignments.

  • Each Course can have multiple Sections.

  • Within CodeHS, a Section is a group of students working on a Course.

  • An Assignment is any module, lesson, or activity that students (within their Sections) work on as part of their Course.

In other words, a Section is a group of students (like a class), while the Course and Assignments are the curriculum content that they are working on.

Related Article: Creating Courses and Sections

After the School Year Ends

Your Sections App will be organized by school year. By default, the school year ends on June 30.

To Adjust the Section End Date:

  1. In the Sections App, click the three dots next to the Section and choose Edit Section. This will take you to the Section Settings page.

  2. Within Section Settings, scroll down to Start / End Date.

  3. Click End Date and select the new date you'd like your Section to conclude.

A Gif demonstrating how to adjust the section's end date by following the steps above.

To update a Section's School Year:

New Sections will automatically be grouped according to the current school year. You can change a Section's school year by clicking the three dots in your Sections App > choosing Edit Section > and updating the School Year.

Screenshot of Section Settings showing the School Year menu expanded to select a new school year.

After the designated school year end date, your sections will:

  1. Be marked as Concluded

  2. Be closed to enrollment (so no new students can join or drop)

  3. Automatically archive after 30 days

Concluded vs. Archived Sections

  • When a section is Concluded, no students can be added or dropped from that section. If the section is not archived, students can still access their work.

  • When a section is Archived, it is hidden from the Student Dashboard and students cannot access their work unless you un-archive the section.

Concluded sections are visible in your Sections App and are listed as Concluded:

On the "My Sections" page in the Sections App with a list of sections with a Concluded section highlighted on the right-hand side

Related Article: Archiving and Un-Archiving Courses and Sections

Reusing a Course for the New School Year

The CodeHS team makes Course updates over the Summer. To be sure that you're viewing the most up-to-date version of a Course, we recommend creating new sections rather than dropping and adding students for the new year. This way, you won't miss out on any of the updated content!

To reuse your Course with a new Section:

  1. Navigate to your Courses App

  2. Click the Create New Section button (represented by the projector icon) to the right of the course you want to reuse

  3. Enter a name for your section and click Create. Your new section will be ready to use for the new school year!

GIF steps through process of creating a new section from a course that you've already made

To reuse your Course from a concluded Section:

You can also create a new section from a section that has already concluded.

  1. Navigate to your Sections App

  2. Click on the concluded section

  3. Click the blue Teach this Course Again button

  4. Enter a name for your section and click Create. Your new section will be ready to use for the new school year!

Clicking on a concluded section in the Sections App's "My Section" tool and creating a new section in a popup via the blue "Teach this Course Again" button

Note: if you use Access Controls, make sure to update the dates to reflect the new year.

Still have questions? Contact our team at hello@codehs.com to learn more!

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