Reset a course without losing its URL

AC226
Community Member

Our college is trying to streamline the semester setup process. For each course offering, we create a blueprint course, and (depending on enrollment) several sections that are associated with that blueprint. We also have an extra "dummy" section associated with that blueprint, which does not have any students enrolled in it, and which is used simply as a "master" copy, and to make changes in the course to weeks that have already passed, for the following semester (i.e., continuous improvement and maintenance).

When it comes time to prepare for next semester, we take these "dummy" sections, and we use them to create all the blueprints/sections for the following semester. Because we can't reset a course without losing the URL, we have to also create a new "dummy" section for the following semester. But ideally, we would just be able to wipe the dummy course and move its association to next semester's blueprint, while retaining the unique URL of that dummy section. This would allow us to have a list of all master courses, or in other words, to maintain an external spreadsheet with all our courses and the URL of their "dummy" section. But if the URL of the dummy section is constantly changing, then this becomes very difficult to manage. 

Is there any way to clear the content of a course, and move its association from one blueprint to another, without losing its URL? Right now, the "reset" button in Canvas actually creates a new course with a different URL.