How do I reset course content?

on Oct 7, 2017•Last modified by Canvas Doc Team

on Aug 17, 2019

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If you have permission as an instructor, you can reset course content with your course settings in Canvas. However, resetting course content permanently removes all content and it cannot be recovered.

When you reset course content, you reset all content in the course including:

Course ID—external URLs will no longer direct back to the course unless they are manually changed
LTI tools added at the course level

Course details and enrollments will remain intact within your course. Following the reset, your course will be unpublished and will not be visible to students. If you added the course to the Dashboard, it will still appear in the Dashboard after a reset.

Note: Course content cannot be reset in Blueprint Courses.

Open Settings

In Course Navigation, click the Settings link.

Reset Course Content

In the sidebar, click the Reset Course Content link.

Confirm Course Reset

Click the Reset Course Content button.

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6 people found this helpful

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Phil Fields Jul 25, 2019 4:51 PM

Why would anyone ever want to Reset the Course Content, if this is what it does?!!!!

It would be nice if you would suggest other things that teachers might want to do if they want to remove all students and grades, but offer the same course again.

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chofer@morainepark.edu

@ Phil Fields on Jul 25, 2019 4:58 PM

Phil Fields...

At our school, we allow our instructors to copy/import course content from semester to semester or from a "master" course into their own course. On rare occasions, an instructor might accidentally copy/import the wrong content into his/her course, and the course content needs to be wiped/cleaned out (reset).

I'm inferring from your comment that you are possibly re-using the same course again for another semester? If this is the case, then I would recommend that you instead have a new course shell for the new semester so that you can preserve the course content of the previous courses along with all student grades/activity. The new course shell would contain a copy of the course content from the previous course along with any necessary modifications for the new course...as well as a new set of students. This way, you can keep your past course and your new current course separate.

I hope I've interpreted your question correctly, but if I've completely missed the boat, please let me know...thanks.

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jivedocs@instructure.com

@ Phil Fields on Jul 26, 2019 10:12 AM

Hi Phil,

Thanks for posting your comment. Like Chris, I'm guessing you're looking for a way to preserve an old course's content without carrying over the enrollments and grades? Chris has offered an excellent suggestion for how to do that! A course shell is a new course that may not (yet) contain any student enrollments and/or course content and is possibly associated with a specific term, dates, and/or grading period. The Canvas Course Import Tool allows you to copy content from one course (in this case, your existing original course) into another course. Here are a few ways to accomplish that:

Copy your course: This option creates a new course with all content from the original course (excluding student enrollments and grades)
Copy course content: If your course shell already exists, then from within that course you can copy your original course content into your new course
Import course content: Use the Course Import Tool in any course shell to bulk-import content into your course. You'll first need to export your original course as a course package.

Hopefully this helps address your concern. Please let us know if there's anything else we can help clarify or if you have any further questions about Canvas functionality.

Thanks,

Allie

2 people found this helpful

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Phil Fields Jul 26, 2019 4:00 PM

Thanks so much for those helpful alternatives! Very much appreciated.

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4 Comments

Phil Fields Jul 25, 2019 4:51 PM
Why would anyone ever want to Reset the Course Content, if this is what it does?!!!!

It would be nice if you would suggest other things that teachers might want to do if they want to remove all students and grades, but offer the same course again.
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- chofer@morainepark.edu @ Phil Fields on Jul 25, 2019 4:58 PM
  Phil Fields...
  
  At our school, we allow our instructors to copy/import course content from semester to semester or from a "master" course into their own course. On rare occasions, an instructor might accidentally copy/import the wrong content into his/her course, and the course content needs to be wiped/cleaned out (reset).
  
  I'm inferring from your comment that you are possibly re-using the same course again for another semester? If this is the case, then I would recommend that you instead have a new course shell for the new semester so that you can preserve the course content of the previous courses along with all student grades/activity. The new course shell would contain a copy of the course content from the previous course along with any necessary modifications for the new course...as well as a new set of students. This way, you can keep your past course and your new current course separate.
  
  I hope I've interpreted your question correctly, but if I've completely missed the boat, please let me know...thanks.
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
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- jivedocs@instructure.com @ Phil Fields on Jul 26, 2019 10:12 AM
  Hi Phil,
  Thanks for posting your comment. Like Chris, I'm guessing you're looking for a way to preserve an old course's content without carrying over the enrollments and grades? Chris has offered an excellent suggestion for how to do that! A course shell is a new course that may not (yet) contain any student enrollments and/or course content and is possibly associated with a specific term, dates, and/or grading period. The Canvas Course Import Tool allows you to copy content from one course (in this case, your existing original course) into another course. Here are a few ways to accomplish that:
  Copy your course: This option creates a new course with all content from the original course (excluding student enrollments and grades)
  Copy course content: If your course shell already exists, then from within that course you can copy your original course content into your new course
  Import course content: Use the Course Import Tool in any course shell to bulk-import content into your course. You'll first need to export your original course as a course package.
  Hopefully this helps address your concern. Please let us know if there's anything else we can help clarify or if you have any further questions about Canvas functionality.
  Thanks,
  Allie
  2 people found this helpful
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Phil Fields Jul 26, 2019 4:00 PM
Thanks so much for those helpful alternatives! Very much appreciated.
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How do I reset course content?

Open Settings

Reset Course Content

Confirm Course Reset

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