Copy Modules: assignment links not found

[christaewilliam]

I teach 6 sections of the same course. I have a simple format: each day, a page will unlock for the students: Monday for Monday, Tuesday, etc. Inside each page, there is a rundown of what we are doing that day. Introductory activities are linked within the course. I have external links to activities as well. However: when I copy my module to my other courses, only the link to the internal assignments are not found ("Whoops! Page not found") but all my other links are fine. I have to go to my assignments on my original source course and copy each assignment separately to each course (I have to do this TWENTY FIVE TIMES in order to get them all. THEN I can go through each page I copied over and ensure the link to the assignment works. 

Here are my questions: 

Is there a way to "batch copy" assignments? ALSO: Is there a way to copy my modules over WITH the assignment links intact? 

[Chris_Hofer]

@christaewilliam ...

If I am understanding your question correctly, it sounds like you have some pages within your course where you are linking to assignments in the same course?  If so, in your "parent" course (where you are copying the assignments from), I would be curious to know if those links to your assignments are really linked properly.  For example, in that course, go to your course "Home" page and look at your course URL in your address bar of your browser.  What is the CourseID number you see there (no need to tell us here, but just take note of that number) ... which would look like this:

https://SchoolName.instructure.com/courses/123456    where SchoolName is the name of your school and 123456 is the CourseID number

Then, go to your page with the links to your assignments.  Hover your mouse over a link to one of your assignments (here I'm assuming it's a Canvas assignment you're linking to).  At the bottom of your browser, you should see the URL displayed which is the path to that particular assignment.  The CourseID displayed in that URL should match up with the CourseID number that you looked at on your "Home" page.  If those two numbers are not the same, then that tells me something has happened recently or in the past...such as where a link may have been copied/pasted from one course to another (something that is not a best practice).  There could be other reasons, but this is a common one when people want to link to things they used in past courses.

I know I'm probably making some large assumptions here...especially since I'm unable to see exactly what you're looking at, but maybe this will give you some things to look at for starters.  Keep us posted here in the Community...thanks!

[christaewilliam]

I am creating an entire module with 5 pages in it (one for each day of the week). When a student clicks on a page, it takes them to information. Our assignments are links within that page. My external links all work, but the internal assignment link does not. If I go to my original course and copy each assignment to another course, I may then create an internal link to the assignment. 

I suppose my only real solution is to NOT link the assignments within the course and just copy them over without trying to link them within my lessons. For 6 classes: I have 3 links per day. If I could just create and copy the module, it would be ideal. As of now the way I'm doing this though . . . it's taking forever. I'm having to copy over 5 assignments per class for a total of 25 copied assignments and creating 5 original assignments, then linking each one in each class. I've got to make this more streamlined. 

[Chris_Hofer]

@christaewilliam ...

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If I go to my original course and copy each assignment to another course, I may then create an internal link to the assignment.

Can you please describe how you are copying assignments to another course?  Are you using the Course Import Tool?  Are you using the instructions in How do I copy an assignment to another course?   Or, are you copying/pasting text from one course to another?

Also, did you review the instructions I provided to see if your CourseID numbers in your original course match exactly?

Looking forward to hearing back from you on these questions.

[gnoack]

HI @christaewilliam 

Are you creating the links to Canvas content as External Links or as Course Links?

You need to create links to Canvas pages, discussions, files, etc. as Course Links.  This is a process different than hyperlinking to a webpage outside of Canvas, such as a Google doc or news article. Creating Course Links should cause Canvas to also import any linked Canvas pages and assignments on those pages when you do the copy. If it doesn't, something bigger is wrong, you should contact your IT staff for support.

See these Guides. 

Do this for links to other resources and activities in the course. 

How do I create hyperlinks to course or group content in the Rich Content Editor as an instructor?

Do this for resources and websites not in the course. 

How do I create hyperlinks to external URLs in the Rich Content Editor as an instructor?