[ARCHIVED] Is there a way to automatically publish a course?

[myerdon01]

We have a lot of clinical classes and the instructors do not use Canvas for the class, but they have to submit final grades from Canvas. We would like to make clinical master course shells with the grade scheme set and enabled and have the one assignment where they would put in the one grade and submit their grades. However, the issue is, the course is not published and the grades will not transfer to the SIS and it is a nightmare trying to walk all these clinical instructors how to publish their one assignment and their course. I have sent out step by step instructions for them, but I still end up spending many hours emailing and on the phone trying to get them to understand. Anyone else have this issue, and if so, how do you work around it? Thanks!

[John_Lowe]

Hi,  @myerdon01 .  In the Canvas API, there is something that looks promising.  I haven't actually tried it myself, but you can send a course update command to change the status to "offer".  This is the description from the API guides:

'offer' makes a course visible to students. This action is also called "publish" on the web site.

In the API guide, you'll see the description of the status and sample code to execute it.

Canvas LMS REST API Documentation

[jennifer_redd · Accepted solution]

Hi  @myerdon01 ,

You can use an API to batch publish courses. I am including the steps below on how to use an API to batch publish Canvas courses.

1. Install Advanced REST Client from the Google Chrome Web store.

Installation video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8KEg5VwVD0

2. Generate an access token from your canvas account.

http://guides.instructure.com/m/4214/l/40399-how-do-i-obtain-an-api-access-token

3. Make a list of course ids that needs to be published in the below format:

course_ids[]=12367&course_ids[]=12345&course_ids[]=12367&course_ids[]=12345

Note: Make sure not to have any spaces.

4. Launch the Advanced Rest Client and enter your information.

Thanks,

Jennifer