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Update: 8/11/09 - Blackboard tells us that the problem with Course Copy was caused when the Grade Center had more than one Total column in it. So before copying your course, please make sure to remove any extra Total columns that are in your containers.
If you have problems with Course Copy, you can always recycle the destination container and try again with Export/Import Course.
Follow these steps to copy one Blackboard container to another. This can be useful at the beginning of the semester when you copy your old Blackboard class information into the new section container. Many faculty use a development container to prepare their classes, then use this copy process to copy that information into the new section container.
This step is critical. Make sure you start this process in the container that has the information you want to copy. This would be the old course, the one with all the content already in it. The steps below will copy FROM this container TO another container.
From the Control Panel, select Course Copy. Please be very sure you are in the right container before you begin this process.
Click the link that says "Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course."
Click the Browse button to get a list of your courses.
A new window will open that lists all the courses that you are an instructor for. Click the Select button for the course that you want to have your information copied INTO.
After you select the destination course, that window will close and the Course ID of the course you selected will appear in the Destination Course ID field. Verify that the semester and section number for the course you selected is the one you want to copy into.
Select the items you want to have copied to the destination container. If you want to copy everything you would select all of them, but you can select specific items if you prefer.
Important Information:
Content - Copies each of the content areas that is checked along with anything in those content areas. If these content areas include graded discussion boards, assessments, or assignments, make sure you also put a check next to "Grade Center Columns and Settings." If any content area you are copying contains assessments, put a check next to "Tests, Surveys, and Pools" to copy those as well. You will most likely want to check this item.
Discussion Board - Discussion Board Forums, including the initial posts in each Forum, are copied to the new course if checked. If you have graded Db forums, be sure to put a check next to "Grade Center Columns and Settings."
If you have a graded discussion board forum that has the setting "Allow Author to remove own posts - All Posts," the connection to the Grade Center will be lost. Modify this forum setting before you copy the course to "Allow Author to remove own posts - Only posts with no replies."
Please note that only the instructor Discussion Board posts will be copied, and once copied, the author will appear as "Anonymous." Blackboard tells us that this is a feature to protect privacy. If you don't like how this works, an alternative is to keep your Discussion Board forum posts in a text file (not a Word file) and individually copy those to the new container. If you want to do that, don't select Discussion Board here.
Grade Center Columns and Settings - Items in the Grade Center, and their settings, such as type, categories, and display options, are copied to the new course. Student scores from the source course are NOT copied to the new course. You definitely want to put a check next to this if you have any assessments, assignments, or graded discussion boards in your course.
Group Settings - Settings copied will include the names of the Groups, the settings for tool availability, and the Discussion Board Forum names.
Settings - will copy the course design, banner, and course entry point. Tool settings that do not exist are added. Existing settings are not overwritten. You will most likely want to check this item.
Tests, Surveys, and Pools - Make sure you copy these if you have any assessments in your content areas. Be sure to copy those content areas too. Both need to be checked for these to work. You will most likely want to check this item.
Here is some information from the Bb Manual about Course Cartridges:
The Course Cartridge Materials option is only successful if the source Course includes Copy Protected cartridge content and the destination Course does not have a Cartridge ID. If this option is selected, the Copy Protected cartridge content will be copied to the destination Course with the Cartridge ID assigned. This option only appears if there is Copy Protected Cartridge content in the source Course.
If the destination Course already has a Cartridge ID (meaning it already includes Copy Protected cartridge content), neither the cartridge content nor the Cartridge ID may be copied from the source Course to the destination Course. If the Course Cartridge Materials option is selected, the copy operation will be successful, but a note in the receipt states that the Course Cartridge Materials will not be copied.
If the source Course and the destination Course have the same Cartridge ID, the content may be copied successfully.
Please note that the whole process is simplified if the course cartridge isn't copy protected. You may want to ask your publisher for a version that isn't copy protected. In some cases they will provide it.
The course is not copied immediately. Blackboard will take up to an hour to complete this process, depending on the size of your course and the number of other courses that need to be copied. If you look at the destination container before you get the email confirming that the process is done, you may see only part of the material has been transferred. Don't panic, it will all get there, just not instantly.
You will receive an email telling you the operation is successful. Save this email. If anything has gone wrong with the copy, you may need this information.
Now you can go take a look at the destination container and confirm that everything is there.
Cuyamaca College
900 Rancho San Diego Parkway 
El
Cajon, California 92019 619-660-4000
