Copying Courses Within MyCanvas

In MyCanvas, the development of a course - the addition of files, the organization of modules, the creation of assignments and quizzes - can occur in any course space. It is normal practice to develop entire courses, or components of courses, in advance of their need within Sandbox or Blueprint courses.

Typically, a course is developed and built within a Sandbox shell, and eventually copied to a Blueprint to serve as the course Master. It is usually, but not always, the Blueprint course that is copied into the empty shells used to deliver courses to students. A course that is to be delivered to students will show student

enrollments in the course’s People tool; Sandboxes and Blueprints are never used to deliver to students and hence will never have student enrollments.

The copying of an entire course, or selected components, into another course is easily accomplished using the Import Course Content tool. In order to be able to copy a course from one shell to another, you need to be enrolled in both courses as a Teacher.

Notes:

• The ability to enroll other users into your courses as Teachers is limited to MyCanvas administrators, like those in the Center for Teaching & Learning.
• While it is common for instructors to copy their own materials, in some departments a third party performs the copying on behalf of the instructor.

In order to copy a course or a course component- a quiz, an assignment, a Module, a page, etc. - from one course to another, follow this procedure.

To begin, enter the shell in which you want to add the component(s). Before the

beginning of a new semester, this is often the new course with student

enrollments.

1. From the Course Navigation menu, choose Settings

2. Choose Import Course Content from the sidebar function.

3. In the Content Type dropdown, select Copy a Canvas Course.

4. In the Search for a course field, enter the name or partial name of the course that contains the components you wish to copy. Click or press on the course name when it appears in the search.

5. Select if you want to copy All content (the entire course with all files and components) or if you want to Select specific content. (Jump to #8 below for more detail). If you do not care to have any course dates that

you have added - for assignments, tests, etc.- updated automatically, click/press the Import button.

6. If you want MyCanvas to automatically update or remove all the dates that you used in the course, select Adjust events and due dates. Choose to Remove dates, or select Shift dates to enter the appropriate dates in order to create the necessary offset, and add any Substitutions if desired. Finally, click or press the Import button.

7. The job will queue, and will indicate when it is completed. If there are issues with the import process, they will be indicated here.

8. If you choose to Select specific content, you will need to click or press on the Select Content button. That will display a screen where you will select the specific files and components to copy.