Processes for Reusing Content from a Canvas Site

These instructions will walk you through copying an existing Canvas course’s content so that it can be used in the current term, as well as the follow-up (or clean-up) steps that you may need to complete, depending on the components of the course site.

These instructions will walk you through copying an existing Canvas course’s content so that it can be used in the current term, as well as the follow-up (or clean-up) steps you may need to complete, depending on the components of the course site.

Important Note: If you are taking over a course that was previously taught by a different faculty member you will need to ask the owner of the course to grant you access permissions to any external resources that are used in the course (for example, Google Drive, OneDrive, Panopto, etc.).

1. Create a Canvas site via the Course Hub: This step will create the new Canvas site shell and will link it to the enrollments for your course.
2. Copy Canvas content from a previous course site into the new course shell
3. Modify due dates and availability dates using the Multi-Tool Due Date Modifier: If you are not seeing the Multi-Tool in your course menu, you may need to add it there via your course Settings > Navigation.
4. Use the course Link Validator to identify and fix any broken hyperlinks in your course.
5. Update/reconnect any external tools and resources used in the course. If you used an external tool such as Lucid, Hypothesis, Google Drive, etc., you may need to take steps to ensure that those tools continue to work in your new course site. Please refer to detailed instructions below for steps for each tool.

• Google Drive: If you embed/use Google Drive documents in your Canvas site for collaboration purposes you should be sure to create them in a shared drive so that access to the documents can be controlled by granting access to the drive to another faculty member. Items saved in individual Google Drive folders will be lost if that person leaves Middlebury. Individuals can also transfer ownership of Google drive items to another person, however that has to be done at both the folder and individual file level. A folder ownership setting will not apply to all the documents in that folder.
• Hypothesis: If you use the external tool Hypothesis for collaborative annotating you will need to complete these steps to reconnect the readings in your course to the assignments.
• Lucid: Instructors cannot directly import a Lucid assignment from one Canvas site to another. The assignment instructions will need to be copied and pasted from the original Canvas site to the new one. The Lucid document will also need to be re-attached using either the Lucid submission type (for individual activities) or the Lucid RCE icon (for collaborative activities). Review more information about Lucid assignments in Canvas.
• Panopto: If there is a Panopto Resource/Folder that accompanies your course you will need to update the student access settings for this folder. To add your new students to the Panopto folder: Follow these instructions to “Add a link to an existing Panopto video folder”. Following these steps will ensure that all Panopto videos embedded in your Canvas course will function and that students enrolled in the course will be able to view this content. To remove your past students from the Panopto folder: navigate to the sharing options for the folder. Under “people and groups,” locate the previous course title and click “x” to remove access.
• Redirects: If you use Redirects (custom links) in your course menu (the left-hand menu bar of your course) that linked to locations in that course, you will need to delete the existing redirects (to the old course) and create a new redirect to the new course.
  • Go to Settings > Apps and click the View App Configurations button.
  • Navigate to the old redirect link and click the down arrow next to the gear icon to the right of the link title. Click Delete.
  • Then, click the View App Center button.
  • Select the Redirect app to configure a new redirect link for this version of the course.
• Video Resources in the Library Collection: If your course uses any video resources accessed through the library’s collection it is important to check the links in your course to see if they are working and check in with a librarian to ensure that the access will persist throughout the length of the course. Some resources need to be subscribed to periodically.
• Zoom: If you select the All Content option when importing your old Canvas course, old Zoom links will be added to your new course site calendar. View these instructions for guidance on how to avoid importing old Zoom links into your new Canvas site.