Copying course components between org units

The copy components utility lets you copy quizzes, content, grade items, discussion forums, dropbox folders, and nearly every other type of component from another course offering or a course offering’s parent template. Copying components saves you from having to recreate your course’s resources from scratch and can significantly reduce the amount of work required to create or re-offer a course.

You can use the copy components feature to:

• Reuse components created in a previous course offering.
• Add components created by your peers into your own course offering.
• Set up standard components inside a course template or master course and copy them into a new course offering each time a course is re-offered.

To copy components between course offerings, you must be enrolled in both offerings. (If you want to copy components from a peer’s course offering, ask that user to enroll you). Enrollment and access to the parent template is required for users to copy components into a course offering from it.

You can also copy components into a course template, and you can create standard components within a template and then copy them into the template’s associated course offerings.

Overwriting and duplicating content

The only component that might be overwritten is Course Files. A course file is overwritten if one of the files being copied has the same name as an existing file. No other components are overwritten.

Let’s say you have three checklists in your current course offering, and copy two checklists from another offering. You will now have a total of five checklists in the current offering. This is true even if the components are identical. If you are copying components from the same source multiple times, be careful not to copy the same items more than once or you will create duplicates.

User data and importing course components

User data is not copied. For example, if you copy the discussions component, only the forums and topics are copied, not the posts inside the topics. Similarly, if you copy dropbox folders, user submissions are not be copied; if you copy quizzes, user attempts are not be copied, etc.  User submissions remain in the original course.

Links and associations between components

If you are copying linked or associated components, you must copy all of the related components at the same time. For example, if a discussion topic has release conditions based on the results of a quiz, you must copy all three components—discussions, quizzes, and release conditions—at the same time. Similarly, if you have a quiz that is associated with a grade item, be sure to copy both the quiz and the grade item at the same time. As long as the associated components are copied together, links between them are retained.

Note: To copy release conditions, you must select the Release Conditions component.

Special considerations when copying course components

Copy components

1. Click Course Admin on your course navbar, then click Import/Export/Copy Components.
2. Select Copy Components from Another Org Unit, and then click Search for Offering.
3. To see a list of courses you have available to copy, click the magnifying glass icon in the search bar.  This will list your courses.  Check the radio button next to the one to copy, and click Add Selected.  You can also enter a specific course in the search bar, if you know the org unit name.
4. To copy the course in its entirety, click Copy All Components. The Copy Summary page displays, showing the copy progress. When a component successfully copies, a green check mark appears beside it. If any component fails to copy properly, a red X appears beside it. (If you get a red X, contact the tech service desk for assistance).  Do not copy the course again!  (Skip to step 11).
   
5. To copy select components from the course instead of all components, click Select Components.
6. When you select the source course offering or template, a section called Choose Components to Copy appears that lists the components available to copy. Select the components you want to copy using the check box next to each component.  
Note: If you are copying Content, be sure to include Course Files and/or select include associated files within the content list; if you are copying Quizzes that include randomized questions, be sure to include Question Library.

7. To copy only certain items from a component, choose Select individual items to copy. This allows you to select individual quizzes, discussion forums, dropbox folders, etc.
8. When you are finished selecting components, click Continue.
   • If you chose “Select individual items to copy” for any component in the previous step, the Select Items page appears. This page lists all of the items and any sub-items contained in the current component. (For example, on the Select Dropbox Items page, you will see all of the dropbox folders and categories.) Otherwise, the Confirm Components to Copy page appears.
   • Select the individual items and sub-items you want to copy and click Continue.
   • To view sub-items, click the plus icon next to an item or click Expand All at the top of the list.

     Note  Not all components have sub-items.

   • Repeat the previous step for any other components for which you chose “Select individual items to copy.” The Confirm Components to Copy page appears. This page lists all the components that are copied and the number of items selected for each component.
9. You can change the items selected within a component by clicking the Modify link beside the item. This takes you back to the Select Items page for that component.
10. You may be offered the opportunity to offset the dates on the items as you are copying them over.  Check the box next to Offset all dates of copied components and then select your direction and range or select to calculate the range between two dates. 

    Note: this option is only available on select components and not on Copy All Components.

11. Click Finish to begin copying.
    • The copy progress for each item is displayed.
    • A green check mark will appear next to each item as it is successfully copied.  A red X will appear next to an item that fails to copy.  (Contact the tech service desk for assistance if this happens).
      
12. When the process is finished, click View Content or Copy Another Package.