Blueprint Courses - Settings/Changes Won't Stick

[rgibson1]

I'm trying to use Blueprint, but I'm having several challenges. What I *wanted* to do is simply make a change to a link on the Front Page. I made the change in the Blueprint template and attempted to sync. Nothing changed. (23 exceptions.) Well, almost nothing. The course card changed to the template course card in 23 courses.

* The Front Page was not locked.

* I have no idea why I received exceptions

* I have no idea why only the course card change (Thank goodness the content inside the courses didn't change.)

* The template was associated with the course

Blueprints has me very nervous. It seems like a good idea, but I can see it blowing away course content.

[kblack]

Hi rgibson1‌ - It's so hard to troubleshoot some of the "exceptions" that one sees after a sync; you may want to file a case with Instructure Support.  It sounds like you did everything correctly.  The reason I say that is that setting a page to be the front page is....well, a setting.  That means you have to enable that "Include Course Settings" checkbox when doing the sync.  It sounds like you did that, because you know what else is a setting?  The course card image, which explains why that worked, though the front page did not. The fact that the number of exceptions matches the number of courses clearly indicates something isn't right.  Maybe  @lindalee  has encountered similar issues with front pages, but in attempting to replicate your issue just now (albeit to just one class, not 23!) things worked as they should have: I enabled the "Include Course Settings" checkbox and the front page and course image both migrated fine.  Hard to say what happened.  (I might add if you have not read Linda's blog posts, definitely do so!  They start here:  https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/higher-ed/blog/2017/11/07/lessons-learned-about-blueprint-cou... )

[rgibson1]

"that means you have to enable that "Include Course Settings" checkbox when doing the sync" ~ Yup, I did.

What I was trying to change was a couple of links from a 'templatized' set of icons on the lower part of the front page to their respective pages (eg "Syllabus", "Policies", etc.) I went to the Template and linked to the syllabus, policies etc....and then "Sync'd". When I saw the course cards change to the template course card, you have no idea how close I was to taking my own life.

[kblack]

Definitely worth contacting support about, then....for emotional support, if nothing else!  And unfortunately, removing a course card image from the Blueprint master won't work, either.  (I just tried it....even after changing some text on the front page to help kickstart the sync command that something changed in the course.)  One reason, I fear, is that settings are not "blueprintable" in that while you can push over the settings to the associated course, there is nothing to prevent an instructor from changing them on their own.  One would think, however, that removing a setting would work in the sync, as well.  No such luck. 

I do think blueprint courses are a really cool feature in Canvas, but understanding all the idiosyncrasies are vital to a successful rollout, so it's good that you're trying out some things now!  (Not that my words will help remove 23 course card images.)

[rgibson1]

The course cards changing foreshadowed ALL the course content being blown away. Fortunately it didn't, but Blueprints is about like learning to drive a car....on the autobahn. Very dangerous feature.

[rgibson1]

Has anyone created some video tutorials for Blueprints? The Canvas Guides are essentially worthless in providing 'whatever you do, don't click that' scenarios.

[kblack]

I personally have not seen one, other than the one presented at Instructurecon 2017 that more or less unveiled the feature:  .  Again, though, I would definitely recommend Linda J. Lee's series, since she provides multiple "real world" examples from a large institution (Wharton).

[Robbie_Grant]

rgibson1,

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie

[riboldipj]

I'm having similar issues. I have assignments that are locked, so they should sync. I change the content and the submission type for the assignments, sync it, and the content syncs, but not the submission type. I've sync with "Include course settings" but still get the exception and the submission type is not copied.

Very Frustrating and requires a lot of checking and rechecking things that should work.