Importing a Canvas class

[jmerriam]

When I import a Canvas course--usually from a prior semester--I've discovered that almost all of the internal links in the imported course end up pointing to pages/modules/quizzes/etc. in the OLD course. This is something I didn't realize until I began getting questions from students about the pages they were being directed to through link clicks, or more recently, alerts from within Canvas that students were clicking links to older courses. 

Is the only option to run the Canvas program that checks for broken links? Seems to me this is both cumbersome and time-consuming; isn't there a way for the programmers to set it up so links are updated automatically so they point to content in the new course? (Obviously, if there's content in the new course that's different from in the prior course, that would be up to the instructor to set up the correct links.)

Thanks!

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

Hey there @jmerriam ,

I think it all depends on how your links are set-up in your course. I've noticed that if I added the link as an external link, and used the link to a specific course, I experience the same behavior as you. However, if I just use a course link and link it directly to something that exists in the course (i.e. a page or assignment), then the link will continue to work as intended in the new course after I import it. So, if you're using course links and it's redirecting back to your old course, it's possible it wasn't imported correctly. I'd either just reset the course content and retry the import again, or maybe reach out to Canvas support if it comes to that. But, I usually don't have any issues with those links.

And yeah, I don't think there's currently a way to auto update the links if they import incorrectly.

Best,
Noah

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @jmerriam ...

Agreeing with @NoahBoswell here.  I'll add my own $0.02 that if you're in a course and linking to content within the same course (to something like a content page, an assignment, a discussion topic, a file, etc.), it's always good practice to use the tools available to you in the Rich Content Editor (RCE).  Some people try to copy/paste links from one course to another, and that's where the troubles can really start to show up.  So, running the link verification tool within the "Settings" of your course is always a good idea.  It will tell you if you have links pointing to other courses that your students would not be able to access.  But, hopefully once you fix those links, it shouldn't be much of an issue going forward.

• How do I validate links in a course?
• How do I create hyperlinks to course or group content in the Rich Content Editor?

I hope this helps a bit...for what it's worth.

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

Hey there @jmerriam ,

I think it all depends on how your links are set-up in your course. I've noticed that if I added the link as an external link, and used the link to a specific course, I experience the same behavior as you. However, if I just use a course link and link it directly to something that exists in the course (i.e. a page or assignment), then the link will continue to work as intended in the new course after I import it. So, if you're using course links and it's redirecting back to your old course, it's possible it wasn't imported correctly. I'd either just reset the course content and retry the import again, or maybe reach out to Canvas support if it comes to that. But, I usually don't have any issues with those links.

And yeah, I don't think there's currently a way to auto update the links if they import incorrectly.

Best,
Noah

[jmerriam]

Thanks, Noah...I may have to contact Canvas support, only because mine are course links (NOT external ones), yet when they get imported into a new course, they're still pointing to the previous course. I'd been hoping I wouldn't have to verify links with EVERY course, as Chris suggested...but looks like I may have to. 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @jmerriam ...

Agreeing with @NoahBoswell here.  I'll add my own $0.02 that if you're in a course and linking to content within the same course (to something like a content page, an assignment, a discussion topic, a file, etc.), it's always good practice to use the tools available to you in the Rich Content Editor (RCE).  Some people try to copy/paste links from one course to another, and that's where the troubles can really start to show up.  So, running the link verification tool within the "Settings" of your course is always a good idea.  It will tell you if you have links pointing to other courses that your students would not be able to access.  But, hopefully once you fix those links, it shouldn't be much of an issue going forward.

• How do I validate links in a course?
• How do I create hyperlinks to course or group content in the Rich Content Editor?

I hope this helps a bit...for what it's worth.

[paul_fynn · Accepted solution]

i @jmerriam another penny's worth on top of @Chris_Hofer and @NoahBoswell ,

I found today that when I used "Copy To' for an assignment it failed to transpose the links to the new course, despite the links being set up correctly - we know this because the transpose worked fine using 'Import'.

There are instances where specific copy tools (like Copy To) need to include all the resources that are linked - so if everything is organised as a link in a page, all those items are added to the module block with the page, and the whole module block copied.

Overall my instincts is that @NoahBoswell is on the right track, and you may have legacy links that were created in a different way to the course and file links in RCE etc.