Canvas: Transfer a Course From One Institution to Another

Environment

Canvas

May also involve other Canvas instances at other institutions (when Faculty change universities)

Issue

Sometimes an instructor transfers institutions and would like to bring their academic resources with them to use at their new university. 

Resolution

• Canvas courses can be exported from one institution and imported to the new institution.
  • Help may be needed from the other institution depending on where the individual is currently working

• Export each course from the former institution using Canvas -- Keep in mind that when you export a course you only export Canvas content, and not LTI tools
  • Go into Settings from the left hand menu
  • Choose Export Content from the right hand menu.  
  • Choose to export the whole course, and follow the prompts to complete the process.  
    • Once the status bar is complete, you will see a clickable link that says "New Export."  
  • Click that and your browser will download the export file to your computer.
    • The exported file will end in .imscc and include the name of your course
• Log in to Canvas at the new institution and determine where you want the content to go -- request new courses, or use an existing course.
  • Open the Canvas course where you want the content to be copied into
  • Choose Import Existing Content from the right hand menu.  
  • Choose the type as "Canvas Course Export Package" and make the appropriate selections for the import.  
  • Click the Import button when you are ready for it to occur.  

Resources and Questions

• Check out the new Academic Technology@Michigan website for course planning resources from across U-M
• Visit the Canvas @ Michigan site for faculty including the U-M Instructor Guide with links to additional support resources from across campus
• Check out the Canvas and MiVideo tutorials

For additional questions, please contact the ITS Service Center