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Protecting Student Privacy

FERPA Training for Faculty

Learn about FERPA and how to protect student privacy as an instructor. Information on this page is useful for all instructors, but especially important for those looking to merge (or "cross list") their Canvas courses.

All merged course requests now require FERPA training.

Note

If you have already submitted your FERPA certificate and verification email, you do not need to resubmit.

Who should complete the FERPA training?

Faculty who want to merge multiple sections of the same class in the same modality for which they are the instructors of record (i.e., multiple ENG-1A sections taught by the same professor) should complete FERPA training. This includes double-ticket, stacked, mirrored (credit/noncredit), or linked classes. Faculty will need to complete the 3-steps outlined below to merge their Canvas shells. This is a one-time training. For steps to ensure your Canvas course settings are FERPA compliant, please visit our Merging Courses in Canvas Page. Please note that if there are significant changes to FERPA regulations, faculty may be required to complete an updated training. Please refer to the FAQ below for additional clarification.

Important: Instructors do not need to wait for the merge to happen to begin prepping their Canvas course. Instructors should begin working in the parent course immediately, but should not do any work in the child courses that are being merged. For questions please contact distancelearning@mtsac.edu

FERPA Steps Prior to Merging Courses

    • 1Complete POD Training "FERPA for Higher Education"
      Complete the Training
      • Access FERPA Fundamentals for Merging Canvas Courses (Mt. SAC Portal login required).
        • Or search "FERPA Fundamentals for Merging Canvas Courses" in POD Connect.
      • Be sure to save a copy of your certificate after completing this training, you will be asked to upload a copy of your certificate to the Smartsheet in step 2.
      • For specific information about Canvas settings for FERPA, please visit our Merging Courses in Canvas resource.
      Saving your Certificate
      • After you complete your training, you will have the ability to print your certificate.
      • Print it, and when asked to select a printer, choose the option "save as PDF".
      • You can always go back to the POD training link to access your certificate if you need to save or print it at a later time.
    • 2Complete FERPA Certification Smartsheet
      Get FERPA Certified at Mt. SAC
      Getting Certified

      Upon completion, your submission will be reviewed for verification and certification. You will receive an email indicating that you have been FERPA certified. Once you receive that email, you can submit the course merge request in the following step.

    • 3Request Canvas Course Merge
      Submit Crosslist Request
      • Access the HelpDesk Canvas Cross List Request
      • Link may require Mt. SAC Portal login before accessing
      • You will receive an email from the help desk when your request has been processed, and in Canvas you will only see the "parent" course. That is how you know the merge is complete.

FAQ