How to Reuse Course Content from Previous Canvas Course Sites
It is easy for instructors to duplicate, import, and reuse content and media between Canvas courses and course sections. This week's Weekly Tip will go over three primary methods for duplicating content between courses.
NOTE: If you are importing content from one Canvas course to another, you should always use the methods outlined below for duplication over methods such as "copy-and-pasting" between courses. When simply copy-and-pasting, icons, images, or files associated with one course will not be visible to students in another course. Replacement can be time-intensive. These techniques – using the “Copy To” tool, the Course Import tool, and exporting/importing your course as a Canvas Course Export package – create copies of the file in the target course, so you should not have any of these issues.
Reusing Content in Canvas
Using the Course Import tool, the first method, is the best for quickly duplicating an entire course to which you have access.
The second method – exporting/importing your course as a Canvas Course Export Package .zip file – is best if you want to save and back up a copy of your course in your files. You can then import this backup file into a course shell whenever you like.
The third method, copying individual elements using the “Copy To” tool in the 3-Vertical Dots "More Options" menu, is best for duplicating individual module materials, such as pages or assignments.
Note that when duplicating an entire course, you may need to change the due dates and availability dates of assignments, among other things. You can use the Edit Assignment Dates bulk editing tool to accomplish this. For more on this, visit the following resource:
Duplicating/Importing an Entire Canvas Course with the Course Import Tool
- Go to the course you wish to import the content into. In Course Navigation, click “Settings” .
- In the right-hand sidebar, click "Import Course Content."
- In the Content Type drop-down menu, select the Copy a Canvas Course option.
- Select the course which you would like to copy content from. Search from the course dropdown menu. Courses are ordered alphabetically by most recent term. (You can also choose to include completed courses by selecting the completed courses checkbox.)
IMPORTANT NOTE: If your section names have the same short name (no section number), you will need to use the internal Canvas course code number (the digits for that course from the URL - like 4613, 12123, etc.) Use that number within the search box to get the specific course.
- Select the All Content radio button to import all content from the original site. (Alternatively, if you only want to import specific content from this course, you can select "Select specific content.")
- Click the Adjust events and due dates checkbox. Check the “Remove Dates” checkbox.
- Click the Import button. Allow a few minutes for this step to complete.
For more information on importing course content using the Course Import tool, visit the following resource:
WARNING: AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announcements are copied over to the new course in the process of a course import. If, after copying your course, you publish your course without editing those announcements, they will all post automatically (and your students will get spammed in their email!) because their dates are (without additional editing) still set in the past.
If you wish to reuse announcements from your previous class, you should edit each Announcement and select "Delay announcement until a different date," then pick a date after the start of the semester. For more information on how to do this, visit the following Knowledge Base article: https://help.ithaca.edu/TDClient/34/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=1272
You can also delete the announcements prior to publishing the course.
Importing and Exporting a Course as Course Export Package
This second method is preferred if you want to make a compressed file backup of your course you can later upload to Canvas.
Exporting happens from the Settings page.
- Go to the course you which to reuse and select "Export Course Content".
Your device should download the created .zip package. Allow a few minutes for this.
Now go to the Canvas course shell which you want to import the content into.
When importing the file into a Canvas course shell, use the Course Import tool and select “Canvas Course Export Package” from the dropdown menu. Select the Course Export Package .zip file in question.
Select the relevant settings, including whether you want “all content” or specific content. Adjust events and due dates if desired.
Click “Import” and allow a few seconds. After importing, you should find the imported course content in your course.
For more information on this process, use the following resource -
Copying Module Items with “Copy To...”
The second method requires you to navigate the course where the information you want to duplicate is housed. You can do it from the content itself or from the module it is housed in.
This method may be helpful if you are navigating through the course, or need to look at different pages to determine where the content is housed.
3. How to Duplicate Individual Content in Canvas with “Copy To”
Go to any page, content, or module where you can access the three-Vertical Dots “Options” icon in the top-right.
Click on the three vertical dots selector to the right of the material you wish to copy.
Click “Copy to”.
In the popup box which appears, type the title of the course you are copying content to. Select it and click the blue "Copy" button.
In this document, we covered three different ways to reuse and recycle content in Canvas. Visit the following resources for more information on the methods outlined above.
Additional Resources