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Blackboard Faculty Manual

5.0 Course Rollovers

5.1 Copying a Course

If you will be teaching the same course again the next term, you can easily copy the materials from your current course directly to the new course shell before the start of the term.

1. Open the course that you want to copy from and enter the Control Panel.

2. Click on Course Copy.

3. Click on Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course.

4. At the destination course ID box, click Browse.

5. Click on the Name/Description radio button so that you can access the new course shell using its course ID.

6. Type in the Course ID of the new course. (Be sure to use an underscore symbol between the department name and course number.)

7. Click the Search button. (Only courses for which you are listed as an instructor will appear.)

8. Scroll to the right and click the Select button next to the course that you are going to copy into.

9. Select the material that you want to copy.

10. Click Submit. Wait until Blackboard emails you that the copying is complete. (This will not be instantaneous. The time to copy depends on the amount and type of content you are copying.)

11. Open the new course and review the content. Delete any copied content that you may not want students in the new term to view. Update any adaptive release rules.

5.2 Exporting a Course

If you choose to export a course you will make a package file (compressed .ZIP file) of the course that can later be imported into another course. It does not include any user interactions with the course - only content and tools.

Note: If you choose this option, do not unzip an Export package or remove files from it, otherwise it cannot be imported correctly.

1. Open the course that you want to export and enter the Control Panel.

2. Click Export Course from the Control Panel.

3. Click Export from the Action Bar on the Export / Archive Manager page.

4. Choose the areas to export.

5. Click Submit. Wait to receive an email indicating that the Export process was successful. The exported course is placed in the Export/Archive Manager page in Blackboard. You can save the course package from here to your local computer, if desired.

5.3 Importing a Course

Use these instructions to import a course (or selected parts of a course) from a package (.zip) file that was created from an export. Never upload an exported course package that has been modified since it was downloaded. This makes the resulting course very unstable.

1. In your new course, enter the Control Panel and choose Import Package from the Course Options group.

2. In the Import Package window:

• Section 1: The destination course ID is already set to the course you are working in.
• Section 2: Browse to locate the desired course package (.zip file).
• Section 3: Indicate if there are any content collection files to include.
• Section 4: Indicate which materials to include in the import.
  • If a course area in the package doesn't exist in the destination course - one will be created.
  • If a course area in the package have the same name and are of the same type - the content from the package will be added but will not replace any content already present.
  • If a course area in the package and in the new course have the same name but are of different types - the course area from the package will be added under a different name.
  • Note: Links to parts of a course that are not included in the import will break when they appear in the destination course.
• Click Submit.

3. Clean up the imported materials:

• Verify the correct home page banner is being used.
• Adjust the course menu as needed (see section 0.3 of this manual for instructions).
• Check and fix all links, if necessary.
• Update announcements, tasks, and calendar events.
• Make the course available.
• Turn on Guest Access if desired.

5.4 Archiving a Course

When a course is archived, a permanent record of the course including all content and user interactions is created. Archived courses are saved as .ZIP files. Archiving a course doesn't remove it from the system.

1. Open the course you want to archive and enter the Control Panel.

2. Click Archive Course.

3. Click Archive from the Action Bar on the Export/Archive Manager page.

4. Select Submit. Wait to receive an email indicating that the course was successfully archived. The archived course is placed in the Export/Archive Manager page in Blackboard. You can save the course package from here to your local computer.

5.5 Recycling a Course

Warning: Recycling a course deletes it entirely. This action should only be taken when extensive structural and content changes will be easier if the course is empty of material. Be sure you archive (see section 5.4 above) the entire course before recycling (deleting) any portion of the course.

1. Enter the Control Panel and choose Recycle Course under the Course Options group.

2. In the Recycle Course window,

• Section 1: Select the content materials to remove.
• Section 2: Select any other materials to remove.
• Section 3: Type Remove in the text box and then click Submit.