This article will explain how you can copy a whole or part of a course into another course in Brightspace.
Be aware that when exporting data from Brightspace, this might contain privacy sensitive information. We ask you to be extra cautious when exporting this data.
Unused and duplicate grade schemes will not be copied to the course!
It is possible to copy both the structure and/or the content (modules and documents) from one course to another. You need to be an Instructor, Assistant Instructor or Course Builder in both courses to be able to copy content. This way you can re-use (parts of) a course that you have built for another year. Additionally, it is also useful for transferring draft versions of (parts of) your course from your Sandbox to the actual course when it is finished.
On this page you can learn how to:
The old built course will be referred to as the source course. The new course will be referred to as the target course.
If you have an extensive course with Release Conditions, Assignments, Quizzes, or other tools that make use of Grades, the easiest way to keep your grade settings is to copy the source course all at once as opposed to individually copying only certain components.
The items/settings of the source course that are not copied:
- Users. Students and teachers (the whole classlist) will not be copied.
- User data: All items and settings that are specific for students (e.g. handed-in assignments, posts in discussion fora, achieved grades, display options, etc.).
- Release Conditions based on items for specific users (such as special access).
- Manually added events from the Calendar.
Some items and settings of your source course will be copied with alterations:
- Turnitin Assignments. Turnitin will be disabled and all settings will be set back to default. Next, you have to regenerate Turnitin by going to Assignments and clicking on Enable in the top right corner.
See the article What information is (not) being copied when executing Course Copy? for a comprehensive list by component and functionality what will be copied.
Copying the whole course
- Navigate to the target course.
- Open Course Tools in the navbar of the course.
- Click on Course Admin.
- Click on Import/Export/Copy Components.
- Select Copy Components from another Org Unit to copy from the source course to the target course.
- Then click Search for offering. A pop-up window will appear where you can search for the source course. You can search by code or name. Select the correct source course and click Add Selected.
- Make sure the box Include protected resources is selected.
- Click Copy All Components to copy all components from the source course to the target course. This way, all content and almost all settings of the source course will be transferred correctly.
- Wait for Brightspace to confirm the copying procedure was successful. This may take a while, depending on the size of the course.
Check the most important components of the target course for copying errors.
All information that was set to Visible in the source course is also Visible in the target course. If you want to change this, set the Main Units to Hidden. This will also make all underlying content Hidden for students.
- Navigate to Review and Manage Dates to check and alter all restrictions and data at once. You can adjust the due dates, availability dates and all other dates by clicking on them.
Also:
- Go to Course Tools and click on Assignments and check whether all desired assignments have been copied. Remove assignments that are abundant. Turnitin links have to be regenerated.
- Go to Grades and then select Manage Grades. Check whether all grade items have been copied correctly as well as whether they have been connected to the right grade schemes and assignments.
Copying only certain parts of a course
Note: It is possible to copy parts of your course, but take care to select all the correct components.
If you only copy the content, all available links to e.g. Assignments, videos, quizzes, discussions etc. will NOT work. You should also copy all these components.
- Navigate to the target course.
- Open Course Tools in the navbar of the course.
- Click on Course Admin.
- Click on Import/Export/Copy Components.
- Select Copy Components from another Org Unit to copy components from the source course to the target course.
- Click Search for offering. A pop-up window will appear where you can search for the right course. You can search by code or name. Select the right source course and click Add Selected.
- Make sure the box for Include protected resources is selected.
- Click Select Components. You will now see an overview of all Course Components that can be copied.
The picture below is an example, the exact view depends on the settings of the source course.
Select the components you wish to copy. You can specify per component, which parts you want to copy by checking Select individual items to copy.
Copying specific modules or sub-modules
Within the components, you can Select individual items to copy. For instance, you can choose to copy specific modules or sub-modules from the Source Course to the Target Course.
Refine what content should be transferred by clicking on the '+' symbol. This expands the modules to include to sub-modules within your course.
In the example above you can check which parts from the module General Information you want to copy to the target course.
By clicking Finish, the selected components will be copied to your target course. Brightspace confirms the copy completion on a new page and offers you to:
- Copy Another Package
- View Content
- Review and Manage Dates
Check the most important components of the target course for copying errors.
All information that was set to Visible in the source course is also Visible in the target course. If you want to change this, set the Main Units to Hidden. This will also make all underlying content Hidden for students.
Copying Release Conditions, Grade Items or (group) restrictions
If you want to copy items that are attached to other items, i.e. Release Conditions, Grade Items and/or (group) restrictions, it is easier to copy the whole Source Course.
In the example below, the Release Conditions are bound to the Course Content. If you don't copy the items where the Release Conditions are attached to, in this case the Content, then the Release Conditions will be copied but not added to the items in your Target Course: this means you must attach them manually. The same counts for Grade Items ( Grades and Grades Settings) and (group) restrictions (Groups).
