Copy a Module item

[jthoms]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

A good instructional design practice is to have a predictable module structure for students to follow throughout a course. This means repeating a similar format for pages and assignments within a course.

Currently copying a module item requires creating a new module and items for each section, and copying content for each item. By adding a “copy” option to the Module gear, the effort to build a course will be greatly reduced. If this triggered a dialogue to state how many copies to make, it would be very simple to quickly build out a course structure.

Please help to flesh out this idea by discussing your particular use case in the comments.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the Canvas Product Release Notes (2017-11-18).

[jal18]

I agree with both Michelle and Karen. The ability to copy/paste select items such as pages, assignments and outcomes within a given course is a fundamental feature of many LMS. It is a feature that is crucial to efficient and effective course building. The current mechanisms are not satisfactory solutions. As mentioned before, copying from outside course is tedious and not everyone wants or is able to publicly share content to Commons.

[bgibson]

I created a module and an item under that module in a dummy course.  I then went to another course and did the Import Content function to pull that module and item into the new course.  That worked, and I moved the item into an existing module, already in the new site.  I then made a minor modification to the imported item.  *I later attempted to import the module and item from the dummy course again into this same new course.  The problem was that Canvas overwrote the first item I had imported with the old default info.    

I am guessing that the only way to prevent this is overwriting problem, would be to create a brand new module & item in the dummy site, each time, before importing into a course in which I had previously imported a module & item.  Renaming the module and item in the dummy site would do no good, because Canvas would still recognize the item and module with their original IDs.

[Renee_Carney]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas 

For more information, please read through the Canvas Product Release Notes (2017-11-18).

[Renee_Carney]

Sorry for the delay in update here.  Recent work on duplicating an entire module led us to find this idea and note that it was completed last year!  I have linked to the original release notes above.

More information on the module duplication feature can be found in the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-14755 

[Renee_Carney]

Production notes are now available at https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-14759 

[Renee_Carney]

 @jthoms  Thank You  for submitting this idea, as well as, kerdman Thank You , sjwright Thank You , r.j.elliott Thank You ,  @kmeeusen  Thank You , hallm Thank You ,  @kona  Thank You ,  @jal18  Thank You &  @bgibson  Thank You  for your contributions. Your investment in this idea helped refine a feature which is now part of Canvas!