Copy Syllabus Content

Copy Syllabus Content

Info
This article will be most useful for Instructors, Template Editors, and System Admins.

Overview

With the Copy function, you can copy content from one Concourse syllabus into one or many other syllabi. You can choose from three options (see image below): 
  1. Copy From - Copy selected item(s) from a different syllabus into the current syllabus.
  2. Copy To: One - Copy selected item(s) from the current syllabus to a different syllabus.
  3. Copy To: Many - Copy selected item(s) from the current syllabus to a group of different syllabi.

Regardless of which option you choose, you will always find the Copy feature in the Syllabus drop down menu on a syllabus:


If you know which copy option you'd like to use, you can use the hyperlinks in the Table of Contents above to go to the step-by-step instructions for each option.

Before you Begin

Copy is a very powerful tool because it overwrites any existing item content in the destination syllabus item. To minimize the potential for data loss, there are limitations to the copy tool.

In order to copy syllabus content:
  1. You must be able to View the selected item(s) on the originating syllabus.
  2. You must be able to Edit the same item(s) on the destination syllabus.
If you do not meet both of those conditions, you will be unable to copy the given item content. Additionally, you can only copy content between the same item category. For example, you can copy a "Meeting Times" item on the originating syllabus to the "Meeting Times" item on your destination syllabus, but you cannot copy "Meeting Times" to the "Contact Information" item. 

Next, syllabus content cannot be copied into items that are linked on templates. In other words, a user cannot copy item content from a live syllabus to a template where the item is linked from a higher level template. Even if a user has permission to edit items on syllabus templates, they cannot overwrite content that was added to a higher-level linked template. Items can be copied from templates to live courses, but they will not be linked. 

The Copy function can only copy information within the Concourse platform; if you want to copy content from another program into your Concourse syllabus, you can copy and paste it manually (see Pasting Text from Word into a Syllabus).

Copy From

To pull content from one syllabus (originating syllabus) into a syllabus (destination syllabus):
  1. Open the destination syllabus.
  2. Select Syllabus. In the drop down that appears, choose Copy. 
  3. On the resulting Copy page, select Copy From.
  4. Search for the course whose content you would like to copy into the destination syllabus. 
    1. The Registrations drop down is defaulted to search My Courses. If you want to copy content from a course to which you are not registered, change the Registrations drop down to Any.
  5. In the search results, select Copy next to the title of the syllabus to be copied (originating syllabus).  
  6. In the Select Items block, select the item(s) you want to copy into the destination syllabus. 
  7. Select Copy. A pop-up window appears: “Copying items may overwrite existing content.” Select OK to trigger the copy process.
  8. The destination syllabus loads with all the copied content. 

Copy To: One

To push content from one syllabus (originating syllabus) to a syllabus (destination syllabus):
  1. Open the originating syllabus.
  2. Select Syllabus. In the drop down that appears, choose Copy. 
  3. On the resulting Copy page, select Copy To: One.
  4. Search for the course that should receive the copied content. 
    1. The Registrations drop down is defaulted to search My Courses. If you want to copy content to a course to which you are not registered, change the Registrations drop down to Any. Remember that users must have edit permission on the destination syllabus for the copy function to work.
  5. In the search results, select Copy next to the title of the syllabus to receive copied content (destination syllabus).  
  6. In the Select Items block, select the item(s) you want to copy to the destination syllabus. 
  7. Select Copy. A pop-up window appears: “Copying items may overwrite existing content.” Select OK to trigger the copy process.
  8. The destination syllabus loads with all the copied content. 

Copy To: Many

To push content from one syllabus (originating syllabus) to more than one syllabus (destination syllabi):
  1. Open the originating syllabus.
  2. Select Syllabus. In the drop down that appears, choose Copy. 
  3. On the resulting Copy page, select Copy To: Many.
  4. Search for the courses that should receive the copied content. 
    1. The Registrations drop down is defaulted to search My Courses. If you want to copy content to courses to which you are not registered, change the Registrations drop down to Any. Remember that users must have edit permission on the destination syllabi for Copy to: Many to work.
  5. In the search results, select the check box next to syllabi that will receive copied content (destination syllabi).  
  6. Select Copy items to Selected Results.
    1. If all syllabi in the search results should receive the content, select Copy items to All Results.
  7. In the Select Items block, select the item(s) you want to copy to the destination syllabi . 
  8. Select Copy. A pop-up window appears: “Copying items may overwrite existing content.” Select OK to trigger the copy process.
The results of the Copy to: Many function appear in a table immediately after copying (see image below). 


The originating course title and the number of destination courses appear at the top of the table. For each item selected for copying, the copy results state, “Copied to (number) syllabi, skipped on (number).” 
  1. “Copied to (number) syllabi” indicates the number of syllabi that received item content from the originating syllabus. This means that the item was overwritten on the destination syllabi because its content was different from that of the originating syllabus at the time of the Copy to: Many function.
  2. “Skipped on (number)” indicates the number of syllabi where content on the destination syllabi matched what was on the originating syllabus; as a result, the copy function did not need to occur.
The number of syllabi identified in the copy results may not add up to the number of syllabi included in your copy attempt. In the example above, three courses were selected to receive copied content; however, each item’s copy results add up to two courses total (“Copied to 0 syllabi, skipped on 2”). The discrepancy between the number of selected courses and the number of copied items may occur because:
  1. The user does not have edit permission for the destination syllabus.
  2. The destination syllabus already contains the item and it is locked or linked.
  3. The destination syllabus is unstructured and therefore cannot receive item content.

Best Practices and Recommendations

To support best practices for data retention, we recommend that you manage group permissions carefully to prevent erroneous copying of syllabus content. Many Concourse institutions change group permissions from Edit to View on previous terms’ syllabi so that end users can copy from past syllabi but not overwrite past content.

If your end users accidentally overwrite content with the Copy function, it may be possible to access earlier versions of the overwritten content and restore it manually. For more information, see Previously Viewed Versions.

Note that files attached to items are not copied during the copy process. If files should be attached to a copied item on a destination syllabus, the file must be added to the destination course and then attached to the item manually. If attaching files is expected at your institution, train instructors on how to add files to their courses.

If the item selected for copy already exists on the destination syllabus, its permissions will match that of the existing item. If the item is new to the destination syllabus, it will inherit the permissions of the main syllabus item.

Finally, we recommend that you always review all changes you made immediately after the Copy process is completed. Timely review makes it easier to identify and remediate errors.

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