Should I import or make a copy?

If your course is already in Canvas and you desire to make a duplicate of it, you may prefer to do a course copy rather than importing a cartridge. Copying a Canvas course follows roughly the same steps as importing a course. The biggest difference between importing and copying a course is that copying does not require the export or import of a course cartridge. When you use the copy feature, Canvas just makes a duplicate and puts it in a new course shell for you.

Copying a course works best if you are copying within the same Canvas instance (like from SBCTC Canvas to SBCTC Canvas). If you teach at two different colleges and need to copy a Canvas course between different Canvas instances (like from Shoreline CC Canvas to Edmonds CC Canvas), then you should follow the export/import process rather than trying to copy it to ensure the course comes over intact.

Your eLearning office will create your official quarterly course shell(s) for you. However, some colleges also have the Start a New Course feature enabled for instructors. If you have access to this feature, you can create your own master and practice course shells to copy content into.

Learning Resources:

Explore the Guides links below. Each link will open in a new tab. You can return to Canvas by clicking on the Canvas tab in your browser.

Watch

Course Content Import (Video - Instructor)

Read

After exploring the Guides link, return to Canvas and click the "Next" button at the bottom right of the page to move to the next section of the module.

TIP: To keep your course clean and organized, be sure to delete and/or unpublish any and all unused or practice type pages from your course before it goes live.