This article is for professors who want to use their courses' materials and schedule again in a future semester. It's as simple as making a copy of the course, and then managing due dates of assignments to account for holidays, professional days, and vacations.
Make a copy of your course
It is easy to copy your course for next semester.
- Log in at https://courseware.visiblebody.com. Here's how to log in to your account with Google.
- Find the course you want to use again, and select the dropdown arrow on the right.
- Then, select "Make a Copy".
In the copy pop-up, you can (as pictured below):
- Change the name of your new course
- Select the correct time zone for your course
- Set the start date for your course
- Set the due date for your first assignment
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Note: Skip this step if you are not a Fastspring customer (students pay for their own Courseware license electronically) with the following situation:
- Your institution is a Fastspring customer, and
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Your institution has selected a 1-year option for the next semester, but you are copying a multi-year course option from the prior semester.
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- Select the radio button next to "1-year ($49.99)"
- Select "Save" (pictured below)
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Copied courses and assignment due dates
A copied course keeps the same number of days between assignment due dates as were in the original course. For example, all of your assignments due on Fridays in the original course will be due on Fridays in the copy as long as you select the same weekday for the first assignment's due date in the copy as you did in the original.
NOTE: You will still need to manually edit due dates in your course to account for holidays, professional days, or any other days off over the timeline of your course.
Archive a course
You can store courses in My Archive, which will deactivate them. This means your students will no longer be able to view archived courses on their My Courses page. No matter where their course is stored, students will have access to the Visible Body mobile apps.
You can still edit your archived courses if you want to make changes for later. If you decide to make them active, you can move them back to My Courses at any time.
- To archive a course, select “Archive Course” in the dropdown menu at the far right of your course under “Course Options”. A pop-up screen will ask you to confirm your choice. Once confirmed, a green banner will appear, indicating your course is now in My Archive.
- To re-activate a course, move it to My Course from My Archive by selecting “Make Active” in the dropdown menu on the far right of your course. A green banner will appear, indicating the course is now in My Courses. Your course will now be active and visible to students who were originally enrolled in the course.
Publish assignments
Once you've made a copy and set your start date, you may want to update some of your old assignments and quizzes. See our other articles on how to edit assignments and quizzes.
A newly copied course will have all its assignments saved as drafts; they won't be published or visible to students. This facilitates instructors wanting to publish their assignments over time as the course moves on. You can use the bulk editing tool to make publishing the first section of your course much faster.
Invite Students
Now that you have a copy of your curriculum and your assignments are published and ready to go, you'll need some fresh students.
Adding students with an LMS Integration
If you use Courseware with Canvas or Blackboard integration, you can find instructions for first linking your respective LMS below, as well as how to invite your students to your Courseware course.
DO NOT use the Invite People tab and course link to invite students if you are using the Courseware-LMS integration.
Linking Canvas to Courseware
Student instructions for signing in via Canvas
Linking Blackboard to Courseware
Student instructions for signing in via Blackboard
Adding students from the Invite People tab
In the "Invite People" tab, you can send the provided link to all of your students, TA's or co-instructors to allow them to join this new course.
NOTE: Copying a course only copies the assignments and other course materials. All students and their grades will remain in the original course.
You can read more on the Visible Body blog here: https://www.visiblebody.com/blog/copying-your-2020-courseware-course-for-2021-in-4-easy-steps