How to Prevent Duplicate Errors in Precollege Templates
Pre-College Canvas course sites often come populated with a course template created specially for Brown’s Pre-college Summer Program. These templates ensure that instructors have instructions and orientation materials along with all of the necessary components to build a robust Canvas course site in alignment with the requirements of the Pre-College Program for the current semester.
Faculty teaching repeat courses often choose to import Canvas content from previous semesters. Due to the workings of the Pre-College Canvas templates, importing past iterations of a Pre-College Canvas course into a new course site may result in the creation of duplicate content. In this situation, instructors will see double orientation modules, assignments, etc., making it difficult to distinguish between current, accurate content and out-of-date content.
To avoid this issue, we recommend that instructors import specific course content rather than all content when copying from past iterations of Canvas sites. Specific content might include items like assignments, discussions, and course readings.
How to Import Specific Course Content:
Select the course you would like to import the content into (i.e. a new Pre-College course site)
Click Settings on the Course Navigation menu
Click Import Course Content on the right side of the page
In the "Content Type" menu, select Copy a Canvas Course.
Locate the course you want to copy content from by selecting from the drop down menu or typing the name of the course in the search box
Click to select the desired course
Select specific content
Canvas gives you the option to manually shift events and due dates or have the system shift the dates. We recommend manually updating the dates after you import the content.
Click Import
How to View Import Progress/ Current Jobs:
After you have clicked Import, the Current Jobs menu displays courses that are being imported. Statuses include pre-processing, queued, running, completed, and failed.
The "Running" status bar displays the time remaining on your Import.
Once you’ve chosen the "Select specific content" option, Canvas will ask you to select the content you want to Import. Click Select Content to the right of "Waiting for Selection" in the Current Jobs section.
When you click Select Content, a window will appear with a list of Canvas tools
Select the box next to the tool to import all the elements within that tool or click the arrow to expose the individual elements of that tool for selection
Click Select Content after you have made your selections
When selecting content under Modules, we recommend that you do not import the previous course’s instructions and/or orientation modules. Select only the items that are specific to your course topic.
- When your import is complete, you will see the Completed status.
How to Fix Canvas Template Duplicate Errors:
If you have already imported your course content and now see duplicate orientation materials, you can fix the issue by removing all prior orientation content. You can then import just the orientation materials from Canvas Commons.
Beginning in Summer 2024, orientation materials will have the last updated year included in the title of the content. This will faculty to know which content is the most current, up to date orientation materials. Materials with prior year indicators can be removed without impacting the functionality of the orientation.
If you have already created duplicate content, please contact [email protected] for support.
How to Import Pre-College Template from Canvas Commons:
If you need to import the template after resetting your course, or your course does not have the template but you would like to have it applied to your site, follow these steps.
Select Canvas Commons from the navigation menu in Canvas
- Use the search bar to type in Pre-College to find the Pre-College Canvas Templates then select the appropriate one.
- After choosing the correct template, click the Import/Download button
- Select the course you would like to import the template into, then click Import this Course
- You will then receive the following message
It can be helpful to rename items in the orientation template with the current academic year so as to assist you in distinguishing between old and new content in the case of a future duplicate import error.
Need Additional Help?
- For help with Canvas, please contact [email protected]
To discuss strategies for implementing Canvas and DLD approved integrated learning tools into your course, please contact [email protected]