Creating a New Course Shell: Do's and Dont's

Some things to keep in mind when you create a new Sandbox in Canvas...

IT automatically creates Canvas courses shell when instructors are formally recorded by HR in Colleague as the instructor of record for a course. This Canvas shell, the one created by IT, is your official course shell.

If you were recently hired and/or don't see a Canvas course shell for a class you know you'll be teaching, please contact your Department Chair or Coordinator to confirm all paperwork has been processed. In the meantime...

Want to create a development shell? (aka a "sandbox")

The page Locating Next Term's Shell will walk you through creating a new sandbox.

NOTE: A Development shell, or sandbox, is not an official SWC Canvas course. This is just a "play" area for faculty to experiment and practice building out their online course content; you cannot teach from your sandbox in Canvas because students will not be enrolled into this course. Student enrollment is only made to courses officially created by IT.

Import Course Content

Want to bring content over from a previous Canvas course? Use "Import Course Content" instead of "Copy this Course" to avoid problems.

If you were to select "Copy this Course" in Settings, you'd actually clone the existing course, creating a brand new container of that same course. Problem is, SWC automatically creates Canvas shells, which are integrated to fill these courses with student and instructor enrollment. Additionally, SWC Canvas shells follow a specific naming convention in the system. So if you attempt to "Copy this Course," you'd actually end up making a second new course shell for your upcoming course, which then leads to other problems. So although counterintuitive, please do not use "Copy this Course" to copy the contents of a current course to a new shell.

Instead, use "Import Course Content" to transfer the content you want.

Access these settings in the Settings area of the actual course you want to bring content into. So choose your future course shell(s)--the new destination for the old content--and go to Settings to get started. You'll see the "Import Course Content" button on the right side of the screen.

When you click "Import Course Content," the system will ask you to make several transfer-related choices, including:

• where you want to bring content over from (the origin of the content) = Canvas
  • select "Copy a Canvas Course"
• which of your SWC Canvas courses you want to bring content into your new course from = SP 18? FA 17? SU 17?
• if you want to bring in all content, or if you only want to select specific content
• whether you want to change course due dates en masse (shift, change, & remove)