Thursday, December 01, 2005

[BB] Copying an old course into new course

1. You can copy the content from an old site into a new site.  A video demonstrates the process.  Use the "Support" tab on Blackboard and then the "Instructor Training Videos" to find the videos.  The video you will be looking for is called "How do I copy an old site into a new site?"  The hardest part is entering the exact course ID for the destination.  You can Browse for it, using the Browse button, and search on some part of the course, such as the course number.  Then select the correct destination course from the list.
 
2. WARNING:  Do NOT copy the enrollments.  If you do you will have added all the students from your old course into your new course site.
 
2. After you copy a site, there may be some cleanup needed.  Most likely you will find duplicate menu items.  That is, you may have two "Course Documents" items in the new site.  The first thing to do is change the name of one of them so you can tell them apart.  Go to Control Panel > Manage Course Menu and use the Modify button next to one and change the name.  I usually go to the second one in the list and change it to "Course Documents 2" or "Assignments 2" or such.  Then go back to the course site and see what is in the two areas.  If the menu items are still the same, use the "Refresh" button to force the menu to reflect your changes.  You probably will want to remove one.  Go back to Control Panel > Manage Course Menu and use the Remove button next to the item you want removed.  When you return to the course, you will probably have to use the "Refresh" button again to force the menu to reflect your changes.
 
Bill Vilberg
305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)