Setting up Canvas for a course sequence

[anewc161]

I'm going to teach a sequence of courses with one group of students across four semesters (the same students will take course A, B, C and D), and then repeat the course sequence with another group of students after that. 

What is the best way of organizing that in Canvas?  My thinking is to set up a separate Canvas course for each semester, conclude it at the end of the semester, and then add students in to the next semester's course.  When I repeat the sequence with new students, I can import the old course content into new courses and adjust it as needed.

I'm just getting started on Canvas, so can someone please provide input?  Is there a simpler way to do this?

[nwilson7]

@anewc161 I think your suggest is the most common method although just a few thoughts as you are developing this.  First, is there overlap such as when the students move to course B, are the next students starting in course A or will there not be a new cohort until the first one completes through course D?  I ask because you may consider making all four courses one big course that just spans the time period.  Not sure if this causes more issues or creates a course that is just too big but it would save you from enrolling the same students 4 times and then when you do your copy, it would be one course to one course vs. 4 courses to 4 courses.

With the concluding, I would just set course or term dates instead of actually clicking the conclude button.  Concluding truly locks the course in a read only state and there is absolutely no going back.  By using dates, you can always change the date if you needed easy access again.  This may not be a big deal for you but it never fails that a student needs something and it is much harder to retrieve in a concluded course.

Hope this helps, please feel free to shoot back with more questions!

-Nick