Introduction

This page describes the process for copying content from a development course shell to a live course shell. It will also help you take the final step necessary to make your course available to students. Students will not be able to access your course until it is published, so don't forget this important part of the process!

Copy your course

It is recommended that you build your course in a development course shell. After you have finished building your course in your development course shell, you will need to copy it into one or more "live" course shells (courses with students) using the tutorial below:

Copy a Canvas course into a new course shell

At the start of the next term, repeat the steps above for your new live course.

IMPORTANT:

Due Dates:

If you have already added due dates to any assignments in your development course shell before copying, you will need to update those due dates throughout your live course. You may select the option to "adjust due dates" as part of the course copy process described above, but it is still very important to check the dates throughout your course! The date adjust tool does not apply changes to ungraded assignments/quizzes or announcements, and it does not account for spring or fall breaks.
When using the Adjust Due Dates feature, you need to enter a start date in both the development and live courses.
The Adjust Due Dates feature also adjusts availability dates, Module dates, and start dates on Announcements.
The drag-drop feature on the Calendar allows users to use the smaller calendar in the upper right to drop items into a different month.

Groups:

If you create a group set in your development course shell, it will be copied into the new course if you follow the steps above. However, individual student groups within a group set will not be copied and will need to be recreated in the new course.

Publish your course

When you are ready, follow the steps in this tutorial to publish your course, making it available to students:

How do I publish my course?

IMPORTANT:

If you have not published your course, you will not be able to email students in the course using the Inbox function of Canvas. The All Students menu choice will not appear in the To field of the Compose a New Message menu box.

Click the Next ▶ button in the lower right to continue.