TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Close Your Course (Make Your Course Unavailable to Students)
• Copy Content into an Ultra Course
  • Copy an Entire Ultra Course
  • Copy Individual Course Items
• Review Your Copied Content
• Common Copy Errors (And How to Fix Them)
  • Folder and Link Descriptions
  • Nested Content and Flattened Folders
  • Missing Content
  • Formatting Errors
  • Embedded Content Errors
• Open Your Course (Make Your Course Available to Students)
• Request a Course Copy

Close Your Course (Make Your Course Unavailable to Students)

When you copy content from a previous course into your current course, certain items, such as Due Dates, are included in the copy. In order to prevent students from seeing old information while you are updating your content, we strongly suggest setting your course to Closed before copying your course.

When a course is Private, the course appears in students' course listings but they cannot access it until you open it.

To close your course, go into your Ultra course and click on Course Settings at the top of the page. This will bring you to your Course Settings page.

Once you are in your Course Settings, go to the Course Access section and select the option to Close Course. This will make the course Unavailable to enrolled students.

After you have copied your content and updated your course, including due dates, you may go back into your Course Settings and unselect the option to Close Course, which will make your course Available.

For more information and detailed instructions, refer to the Set Course Availability in myLesley support article.

Copy Content into an Ultra Course

Ultra makes it easy to copy materials from one course into another. You may choose to make an exact copy of a course or copy individual items from one course into another.

As a best practice, we do not recommend copying an entire Original course into an Ultra course, as this may cause errors. Instead, we recommend copying Original course content in pieces (ex, one folder or module at a time). See Copy Individual Course Items for more information.

If your course is not currently in Ultra Course View, email [email protected] to request a course conversion.

Copy an Entire Ultra Course

As a best practice, we do not recommend copying an entire Original course into an Ultra course, as this may cause errors. Instead, we recommend copying Original course content in pieces (ex, one folder or module at a time). See Copy Individual Course Items for more information and instructions.

To make an exact copy of an Ultra course, go to the course you wish to copy the materials into. 

On the Course Content page, click on the Options Menu (three dots on the right side of the page) and select Copy Items.

This will bring up a list of all courses in which you are enrolled. Scroll through the list or use the search bar to search for a specific course. Click the checkbox next to the course you want to copy from to select it. The course will be brought over to the Selected Items column. Click Start Copy to copy your course.

The copy process may take several minutes to complete.

When you perform a full course copy, all settings, including due dates, visibility, and release conditions are also copied over. Use the Batch Edit tool to update visibility settings and shift due dates. 

Copy Individual Course Items

You may copy individual items or groups of items into an Ultra course. You may copy content from an Original or an Ultra course, however please keep in mind that not all Original course content will copy into Ultra.

Not sure which content can easily be copied from your Original course? The Should I Create New Content in Ultra or Copy From an Original Course? support article will guide you through the types of content that you may copy from Original and which types of content you should create new in your Ultra course.

On the Course Content page, click on the Options Menu (three dots on the right side of the page) and select Copy Items. 

Alternately, go to the location in your Course Content where you wish to add content, click the plus sign to open the menu and select Copy Content.

This will bring up a list of all courses in which you are enrolled. Scroll through the list or use the search bar to search for a specific course. 

Click on the course you want to copy from. This will display a list of categories. Select a category to see items available for copy. You may copy as many items from the course as you wish, including entire modules, individual documents, assignments, discussions, and more. 

If you are copying from an Original course, you will see a list of categories that correspond to the links in your Original Course Menu. Please note that not all Original content will copy into an Ultra course. Go to the Should I Create New Content in Ultra or Copy From an Original Course? support article for detailed information.

If you are copying from an Ultra course, you will see a short list of categories:

• Content: Items that are listed on the Content tab for that course. 
• Discussions: Items that are listed on the Discussions tab for that course. 
• Question Banks: All available Question Banks for that course. 
• Rubrics: All available Rubrics for that course.
• Grade Schemas: All available Grade Schemas for that course.

Select the items you want to copy and click Start Copy to copy the content. 

The copy process may take several minutes to complete.

When you copy individual items to your course these items are hidden from students by default. Use the Batch Edit tool to change the visibility settings and shift the due dates.

Review Your Copied Content

If the system encounters problems when copying content, you will see an error message at the top of the Course Content page. Click on View Exceptions to view the report.

The Exceptions Report will provide you with a list of items that weren't copied or experienced an error, along with a brief explanation of the issue. In most cases you won't need to do anything at all. In others, you may need to edit or reformat the content. And in certain instances you may need to re-create the content in your Ultra course.

In addition to Copy Exceptions, you will want to review all of your copied content to ensure that it looks and functions as intended. Pay special attention to the following:

• Visibility: When copying individual content into your Ultra course, all content will default to Hidden from Students. You may adjust the visibility for these items one at a time or use the Batch Edit tool to update them all at once.
• Due Dates: If your gradable items have due dates assigned, these will come over in the copy. You may adjust the due dates for each item one at a time or use the Batch Edit tool to update them all at once.
• Formatting: Check all of your content for formatting issues, including text and spacing, broken links, attachments, and more. Pay special attention to embedded content, such as videos. If your formatting or content is wonky, you may edit or recreate it using the Content/Text Editor.
• Folder and Link Descriptions: Item descriptions in Ultra are limited to 750 characters and do not support formatting. If your Original course contained long or formatted descriptions (especially for folders, tool links, files, and links) only the first 750 characters will copy into Ultra.

Common Copy Errors (And How to Fix Them)

In some cases you may notice that content did not copy as you intended. This can be especially true when copying an Original course into an Ultra course. The following are some of the most common copy errors and suggestions for how to fix them.

Folder and Link Descriptions

Item descriptions in Ultra are limited to 750 characters of plain, unformatted text. If your Original course contains long or formatted descriptions (especially descriptions for folders, tool links, files, and links) only the first 750 characters will copy into Ultra.

For example, in your Original course you have a long folder description with an image and formatted text, including a bulleted list.

When this folder is copied into Ultra, the image and formatting are removed and the text is truncated.

When this happens, we recommend a two-fold approach. First, give your folder a short, brief description. Next, create an Ultra Document with additional information that you would like to share with your students.

Within your Ultra Document, you may include formatted text, images, links, video, and more.

For more information, refer to:

• Organize Your Content in Learning Modules or Folders
• Create Ultra Documents
• Blackboard Ultra Course View: Add and Format Content

Nested Content and Flattened Folders

When copying Original content into Ultra, pay special attention to any nested content (ex a folder within a folder), as these can be "flattened" during a copy.

Ultra courses support up to three levels of nested content (ex. a folder within a folder within a Learning Module). 

If you copy content from an Original course with more than three levels of content, your content may be "flattened."  In other words, your content may be pulled out of folders and moved to the lowest supported level.

If this happens, you will want to rethink your course structure and organize your content accordingly.

The best way to avoid this is to build out your course structure in your Ultra course and then copy content into it. For example, on the Course Content page, create your Learning Modules and/or Folders and then copy your content into them. 

Missing Content

Certain types of content will not copy correctly from an Original course into an Ultra course, including Discussions and Journals. As a best practice, we recommend creating your Discussion or Journal directly in your Ultra course. 

• Create Discussions in Ultra Course View
• Create a Journal in Ultra Course View

Other tools, such as Blogs and Wikis, are not available in Ultra Course View. As a best practice, we recommend using a different tool, such as Discussions in place of Blogs or a Collaborative Document in place of a Wiki. Please reach out to [email protected] to discuss alternative tools.

If you are using a textbook integration in your course, such as Cengage, Pearson, or McGraw Hill, we suggest recreating your textbook integration in your new course. This will ensure that everything is linked up properly and grades are passing seamlessly between the systems. 

Please refer to the  Should I Create New Content in Ultra or Copy From an Original Course? support article for more information on the types of content that you may copy from Original and which types of content you should create new in your Ultra course.

Formatting Errors

Check all of your content for formatting issues, including text and spacing, broken links, attachments, and more. If your formatting or content is wonky, you may edit or recreate it using the Content/Text Editor.

Embedded Content Errors

Pay special attention to embedded content, such as videos. If the embedded content isn't playing correctly, you may need to re-embed them using the Content/Text Editor.

Open Your Course (Make Your Course Available to Students)

Once your course is ready, you may make it available to students.

To open your course, go into your Ultra course and click on Course Settings at the top of the page. This will bring you to your Course Settings page.

Once you are in your Course Settings, go to the Course Access section and un-select the option to Close Course. This will make the course Open to enrolled students.

For more information and detailed instructions, refer to the Set Course Availability in myLesley support article.

Request a Course Copy

If you would like to have a member of the eLIS staff copy an entire Ultra course for you, please fill out the Copy Request Form. There is a 2 business day turn around time for this service.