STUDENT QUESTION: How do I backup/download a course as a student who does not own the course?

[cew374]

Hi all,

I am a student who uses Canvas for college. I would like to download all course content that was available to me as a student so that I can keep it after I graduate. I'll likely lose access to my two-factor authentification, which means I probably won't be able to log into my Canvas account say ten years down the line. So I want these files non-contingent on my enrollment status. I've paid thousands of dollars to access this material, so I would like to back it up on my personal computer.

I can see that instructors are able to export their own courses, but I am not an instructor. I hope that this functionality exists for students as well!

Thanks,

Claire

[chriscas]

Hi @cew374,

If your school/institution has enabled the option, you could download your course as an epub file.  Be aware that file may not be comprehensive, and definitely would not include any of your submissions.

At my institution, we allow students to log in and access courses up to 7 years after they are completed, so there's quite a long timeframe there.  Realistically, even if you were able to download a course like faculty could, you'd need a Canvas instance to put that content back into, as the download file itself is not really meant to be a usable thing on its own.  I think you may want to talk to someone at your school to find out what their access/.retention policies are, and also see if they have any suggestions on downloading content for your own archival purposes.

I hope this helps a bit!

-Chris

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

You really should speak with your instructor first and ask for permission to do this. Some professors have a policy in their syllabus regarding downloading and/or sharing course content.