Reuse an existing course

Last modified by Carina Enke on 09.03.2024

You can reuse existing courses for new semesters or school years in various ways. However, there are principally two basic options that can be considered. Each of them has specific advantages and disadvantages. Please use the tabular comparison below to check which one best suits your needs and wishes.

Answering the following key questions may also be helpful:

  • What are the requirements for securing and archiving existing user-relevant data (assessments, posts)?
  • How long and in what form does this information have to be accessible for past semesters/school years?

Content

Do you already know about the option to generate course templates?

These are particularly useful if you have found a course structure and a course element combination you wish to use repeatedly for new courses.

Comparison

You may

  • “clean up” a course so that it can be reused, i. e. remove or empty contents, groups, and history data
  • copy a course to create a duplicate

You will find a linked information page for both variants at the end of the table. Here, you will learn about the necessary adjustments and how to compensate for or eliminate the disadvantages presented for each variant.

 

Clear course for reuse

Copy course for reuse

Advantages

  • Existing references (e. g. links from catalogues and course catalogues etc.) do not have to be changed, as the course reference (ID) remains the same.
  • There are fewer own resources you have to maintain and administer.
  • When being copied, all course elements and groups are reset to an "original state".

Disadvantages

  • Assessment data is retained on existing course elements. If individual participants repeat the course, they have already completed the course element and, depending on the configuration, cannot make a new attempt.
  • If course elements are deleted, they are no longer available for documentation purposes or have to be saved beforehand.
  • A new course reference is created, which may need to be adapted in other places (course catalogue).
  • It is necessary to check which course element content has to be maintained manually.
  • References to learning content (wiki, podcast) are set to the same resources and may need to be changed.

Information page