recommended way to manage "source class"

[jim_the_steam_c]

I'm looking for recommendations on managing my "Source Class"

I have a Canvas Intructure free for teachers Account, where I host a few classes.  This is where I make all my edits and create new material like assignments, quizzes and pages, etc.  I tend to link out to any Google docs or Slides or PDF's and not imbed them in my class.  

Then when I start a new year with my school, I export my class archive out and import it into my schools Canvas LMS account.

I want to do a bunch of edits and organization of assignment groups, organize my files and images, but with 3 days before school starts, I was thinking to export my current source class, and then over the year organize it in my schools LMS, and then at the end of the year export it back to my free for teachers account and create a new class.  the plan would be to delete the original source and use this new import as my 2026-2027 source for my class.

My Question: Is this a good plan?  I know Canvas is a bit different from free for teachers and hosted school LMS Canvas, but I have not seen any issues doing this before.  I'm worried I'll mess-up my class exporting and importing it, but don't have any reason to think this is a bad idea. 

What do you all do? 

Jim

[JeffCampbell · Accepted solution]

I see nothing wrong with the plan you have, particularly if you see yourself doing the edits and organization during the year. Unless you are using tools available on one that is not available on the other, this should work fine. However, if you are using a tool only available on one, that could cause an issue. We do something similar in our department, but our source classes are hosted within our institution's Canvas instance. Out of curiosity, is there a reason you don't host the source material on your school's account?

Before deleting the old source, consider at least exporting it as a backup, just in case something goes wrong. I keep backups of older versions with dates just in case.