Completing a course copy in Blackboard Original (Instructors)

Description

Instructors and teaching assistants can copy the contents of one course to another, such as from a development course to a live course or across multiple sections for the same term.

Environment

Mac and PC

Solution 

  1. Open the course that is to be copied (the  Source Course ).

  2. In the “Control Panel” area on the left side of the screen, click to expand  Packages and Utilities and select  Course Copy.

  3. On the “Copy Course" page, in the first section, titled “Select Copy Type,” leave the default “Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course" option.

  4. In the second section, titled "Select Copy Options," click the  Browse button to the right of the “Destination Course ID" field. A second window will open containing all of the courses for which you are the instructor.

  5. Use the Search feature or just scroll through the list of courses and click to select the course that is to receive the results of the copy process (the  Destination Course ).

    • NOTE: There may be multiple pages listing these courses. Use the arrows in the bottom right of the window to page through the list, or click the “Show All” button to see all of the courses on a single page.

  6. Click the  Submit button to save your choice for the Destination Course. The Destination Course ID should now be displayed in the designated field on the Copy Course page.

  7. Next you will "Select Course Materials" by clicking the box for each aspect of the Source Course that is to be included in the Course Copy.

    • NOTE: If the Source Course contains assignments or tests that are submitted through Blackboard, make sure to include the "Grade Center Columns and Settings" option.

    • If you use the “Select All” or “Unselect All” buttons, ensure that the radio button for the desired Discussion Board option (to include starter posts for each thread in each forum or to include just the forums and forum descriptions, with no starter posts) is activated.  If your forums are configured to allow students to create threads, you'll generally want to select the second, non-default option in order to avoid copying student-authored threads from the Source Course into the Destination Course.

  8. In the third section, titled "File Attachments," choose the desired option for files attached to the course.  In most cases, the default option, "Copy links and copies of the content," is appropriate.

    • Exception: If your source course contains presentation or lecture content that was created with elearning authoring software such as Articulate Storyline 360 or Adobe Captivate (among other applications).  This type of content is uploaded to the Course Files repository as a package (ZIP file) comprised of various media files and a reference file, generally named "index.html," "story.html," or similar, depending on the authoring software.  Only the reference file is actually attached or linked in a Bb course content area; the referenced media files are not individually attached to content items in the course.  When content of this type is present, you must select the third File Attachments option, "Copy links and copies of the content (include entire course home folder)," in order to include the media files in the copy.

  9. In the final section, titled "Enrollments," choose the desired option for enrollments attached to the course. In most cases, the default option, the empty checkbox to exclude enrollments, is appropriate.

  10. When finished with the options, click  Submit

    • NOTE: An email notification will be sent when the copy request is processed, but this does not mean the copy operation is complete. A Course Copy can take as long as an hour, depending on the size of the course and the number of requests in queue. Periodically check the Destination Course for the presence of copied content.

      • If after an hour the copied content still has not appeared in the Destination Course, please  contact the Service Desk  for assistance.  Do NOT perform the Course Copy more than once. Multiple copy requests result in excess copies of all the material in the Destination Course which must be corrected by deleting items individually or performing a bulk delete procedure before copying the Source Course once again.

Outcome:You should now be able to copy content from one course to another.

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Additional resources

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