May 6, 2024

7 Tips for Weeding Through Canvas Course Lists

When looking at your Canvas Course list do you feel unsure which courses are copies and which were once rostered?

In an effort to help you clean out your course list, here are some tips and strategies to use to help you get organized and safeguard your content.

When in doubt, EXPORT!

Confused about distinguishing between your created courses and rostered ones? Without a consistent naming convention, it's tricky. No one clear indicator exists. For absolute certainty, export your desired courses to safeguard content.

Click Here for Instructions for Exporting Your Course

Using the tool in Course Settings will allow you to save a file export package of your Course outside of Canvas.
This export can be stored on your computer or in your Google Drive. It is not a working file, it is a digitally encrypted file format (.imscc) and can NOT be opened up on your computer.
To use it in the future, it must be imported back into Canvas into a class shell or sandbox.

Create an Organized Folder System on your Computer

1. On your laptop, go into your documents and create a new folder titled "Canvas Exports"
2. Inside that folder, you can create SUB-folders with specific information for instance "Biology B - 2023-2024"
3. Creating a specifically named folder for each course export is best practice.
4. Once you have the folders created follow the instructions in yellow below.
5. Folders can also be uploaded and saved into Google Drive once you have them all exported and organized!

How to Export a Course

Go into the course
Go to settings
From the menu on the far right choose "Export Course Content"
Make sure "Course" is selected
Create Export
Wait for it to run completely (larger courses take longer)
When it says "Your content has been exported" and the whole bar is blue, REFRESH the page
Look for a link to load at the top of the page the might say something like "Export from 1 minute ago"
Click it. It will download a large zipped gibberish file onto your device. DO NOT CHANGE THE FILE NAME. You can then save that file into a specifically named folder or safe file storage of choice.

Video or website help:

Start with this year's content

Start with what is most fresh in your mind, THIS YEAR. Go back through your courses from this year and either export them or create a copy of them.

Once you have this year saved, work backwards through previous years!

BE SMART AND CONSISTENT ABOUT NAMING NEW COPIES!! See below for an easy suggestion.

Click Here for tips on *Renaming Copies

Rename your copied courses with a similar naming convention to better organize them.
Utilizing details like course name, semester or trimester used, and year used will be crucial!
- - - Example: *Biology A - T2 - 2024
PRO TIP: Putting an “*” asterisk at the start will pop them to the top of the list when searching AND keep them together.

Look in the term column

If you have been following instructions when producing copies and making manual courses, you can look in your course list in the TERM column to spot copies.

THIS IS NOT FOOL PROOF. If you have not been changing the copied course settings from "term" to "course" this may not be a tried and true way for YOU to spot copies vs old rostered courses. See the images below.

*Control F will allow you to search terms on the whole page.

Click Here for Instructions for Copying Your Course

This will copy all the content, and place that copy under the area of your Unpublished course on your Dashboard.
This process will copy all content, but not the students.
You will be able to rename this copy whatever you would like so you can identify it easily.
- We highly recommend using Course names and dates used.
PRO TIP: Remove dates from assignments for future use!

How to Copy a Course

Go into the course
Go to settings
From the menu on the far right choose "Copy this course"
Change the name using an "*" asterisk in front of it. (Ex: *Biology A - 23-24 - T3)
Make sure "All content" is selected
Check the box for "Adjust Events and Due Dates"
Then check the box for "Remove Dates"
Create Course
Once course copies are made, change the Settings from term to course.
1. 1. 1. Go to your newly created course copy
    2. Go to settings
    3. In "Course Details" scroll down to "participation"
    4. The drop down needs to say course...if it says term, change it to course.
    5. Then scroll down and "update course details" to save the change

Videos and Website Help:

Look for some key words in the course title

If you have been using a good naming convention for your course copies you likely have used a few key words in the titles of the copies. Peruse your "All Courses" list and look for words like:

Copy of
Sandbox
Master Copy
Master Course

My Copy
Mine
Ghost
Any other terms YOU might have coined for this

*Control F will allow you to search terms on the whole page.

Look for the ability to DELETE!

Click Here to learn how to check for DELETE capability

Still trying to figure out which courses are copies and which aren't? Previously rostered or SIS generated courses cannot be deleted by the teacher. To see if you can delete a course follow these instructions:

1. 1. Go to course settings
  2. Look to the far right. If you see the option "Delete this course" it is likely a copy, sandbox, or manually created course and it CAN be deleted.
  3. For those courses that you cannot delete, the menu to the far right in settings will NOT have "Delete this course" as an option.
  4. See the images below for what to look for.

IMPORTANT: IF YOU SHARE A SANDBOX WITH OTHER TEACHERS, PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH THEM BEFORE DELETING!!! WHEN ONE TEACHER DELETES THE COURSE IT PERMANENTLY DELETES FOR EVERYONE!!! If you would simply like to be removed, have one of the other teachers remove your access.

Settings Menu of a Copy/Sandbox/Manual Course

Settings Menu of a Previously Rostered Course

I found my copies, what now?

Click Here if...I Found My Copies and Want to KEEP THEM...what now?

Once you locate the copies you plan to keep, follow these instructions for each one:

1. 1. Go into the settings
  2. In the "Course Details" tab, go to the course name under the image.
  3. Rename your course. Utilizing details like course name, semester or trimester used, and year used will be crucial!

Example: *Biology A - T2 - 2024

1. 1. Scroll down and click "Update Course Details"

Click Here if...I found my copies, but I want to DELETE THEM...what now?

If you don't want to keep the copy you find:

Once you're sure you won't be ruining anyone's life by deleting...follow the instructions in yellow below.

How to DELETE a Course copy or manually created course

- - Go into the course
  - Go to settings
  - From the menu on the far right choose "Delete this course"
  - A second screen will appear to MAKE SURE you DO want to permanently delete the course. READ IT
  - Click "Delete Course"
  - When it is gone, you'll be sent back to your Dashboard and a small "SUCCESS" message will appear across the top.

Videos and Website Help:

What should I delete?

IF IT IS YOUR COURSE

We recommend deleting any course copies, sandboxes, or manually created courses that....

- - Are duplicates of the exact same course with only slight differences
  - Courses you no longer teach
  - Courses where you are using the rostered version as your content storage (those are subject to delete in the district clean up)

IF IT IS NOT YOUR COURSE OR IT IS A SHARED SANDBOX

If you were added to another teacher's rostered course or sandbox and would like to be removed from it, communicate with them and kindly ask them to remove you. Giving them links, course numbers, or EXACT course titles of the ones you want to be removed from will help this process SOOO much.

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