Copying Content
Full Course Copy
Copy Parts of a Course

Copying Content

Once your course(s) have been created in Canvas the next step is to copy content over from your previous semester course (or Sandbox course).

Unless you are starting your course from scratch, there are two main options, a full course copy or selecting specific content from a course to copy over. The following tabs provide information about each and directions.

Pull, Not Push

In Canvas, you import (or pull) content from another course (not push). Thus, you need to go to the destination course space and import content from the source course space.

Before You Import

You can only copy content from courses in which you are an Instructor or Designer. If you need content from another person's Canvas course, ask them to add you to their course as a Designer, and then you can do a course copy.

Importing from Commons

Remember, too, that there are sample courses and course materials in the Commons. You don't have to start completely from scratch. Search the Commons for 'Valencia Sample Course' to find two different course starter kits that you can import into your course spaces. They include a syllabus template, homepage, orientation module, and modules organized by week or by unit.

Full Course Copy

In most cases once faculty get their course(s) built they will copy their entire course from one semester to the next semester. This copy includes all course content, assignments, links, etc. It does not include any student information or assignment submissions.

See the following guide for directions on how to copy an entire course: How do I copy content from another Canvas course using the Course Import tool?

As part of the course copy you might also want to adjust assignment due dates to the new semester. See the following guide for information on how to do this: How do I adjust events and due dates in a course import?

For additional information see the following video walk through on how to copy an entire course into a different course.

Copy Parts of a Course

Once you start building and working more in Canvas you might need to copy parts of one course in Canvas into another course in Canvas. For example, if you have a discussion rubric that you'd like to use in all of your courses you could create it in one course and then copy it into your other courses in Canvas.

See the following guide for directions on how to copy specific parts of a course into another course: How do I select specific content as part of a course import?

For additional information see the following video walk through on how to copy parts of a course into a different course.