Managing Courses > Setting up Courses and Sections > Copying an Existing Course

Copying an Existing Course

By selecting the option to Copy an Existing Course, you can quickly repurpose one of your current courses or use a Cengage template course. By choosing one of these options, you can save time by starting with a course that already contains assignments. If you use one of your pre-existing courses, the copy will not include data such as student takes, grades, and enrollment. After your new course is created, you can update basic course information, dates, and enroll your new students.

To get started, select Copy an Existing Course. Then you can choose to either Start with a course already in your account or Modify a template course designed by Cengage Learning.

For more details, see the specific instructions in the sections listed below:

Starting with a Course Already in Your Account

The option to Start with a course already in your account is available to any instructor who has at least one pre-existing course in their account. Using a pre-existing course allows you to re-use previous assignments and course settings. Modifications to dates and other details can be done after the course is created.

Enrollment and grade information is not included in the copied course. However, if the original included any sections, they are preserved.

Note: Courses created from a copy do not link back to the original course. If you edit assignment content for an assignment in either of the courses and make edits, those same changes are not made in the peer assignment in the other course.

To copy one of your existing courses

Note: If you teach at more than one institution using CNOWv2, verify that you are logged into the appropriate institution before proceeding. See Managing Multiple Institutions for more details.

  1. 1. Go to the Courses page and click Create a New Course to open the Choose Process page.
  2. 2. Select Copy an Existing Course and click Start with a course already in your account.
  3. 3. Click the Continue button to open the Choose Course page.
  4. 4. Select a course by clicking on a name in the Available Courses pane. (Required)

    5. A new pane listing additional course details such as the course name, number, instructors, sections, syllabus, start and end dates will open to the right.

    If your account includes inactive courses you can choose to include them by deselecting Show only active courses.

  5. 5. Click the Continue button when you have the appropriate course selected and the Course Information page will open.
  6. 6. Enter a new Course Name to replace the default "Copy of" naming convention. (Required)
  7. 7. (Optional) Enter a new Course Number.

    8. This can be the number of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog.

  8. 8. Select the appropriate dates for both the Course starts on and Course ends on date fields. (Required)

    9. You can click on the date field or calendar icon to open the calendar tool for the date field.

    Note: Try to coincide your course start date with your students' registration date. This maximizes your students' trial period, as the start date you select determines when their grace period begins.

  9. 9. (Optional) Adjust the assignment dates by selecting the option to Adjust all assignment dates based on moving the start date of the first assignment to:, and then using the calendar widget to select a new date and time. Click Done when you are finished.

    10. All assignment dates in the course should now be changed relative to the new Start Date you selected for the first assignment.

    Note: If you opt to skip this step, the assignments inherited from the copied course will retain their original dates. You can later adjust assignment dates individually or in bulk by using the Modify Dates feature on the Assignments page. See Modifying Dates for more details.

  10. 10. (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login, if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs.

    11. This feature is especially useful when you are generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page.

  11. 11. If you want to change or provide a Syllabus for the student's Courses page, you can link this course to an existing web page or document.
    • ° Select Link to This URL to display an existing web page syllabus. Enter the entire web address, including the protocol such as http:// or https://.
    • ° Select Link to This File to display an existing syllabus document. Then click Choose File to navigate to the file and click Open to enter the path to the file automatically.

      • Note: The file must be a Microsoft Word .DOC or Adobe .PDF file format, and no larger than 10 megabytes.

    • ° Select None if you do not intend to provide an on-line syllabus by either of the preceding methods.
  12. 12. (Optional) When available, select the checkbox next to Allow students to send emails to the instructor while taking assignments.

    13. With this feature enabled, students can send an email from their assignment take. The email will contain their message, the information identifying the specific assignment, a link, and a screen capture that allows you to view the specific question content.

    Note: You can include additional instructor email addresses by clicking the plus button under the Enter Instructor Emails heading and entering a new address.

  13. 13. Click Create Course when the course information is complete and the Course Created page will open to display information for your new course.

    14. Under the Likely Next Step heading are helpful suggestions for additional tasks based on the make-up of this specific course. You can add assignments to it with Create an Assignment, Export or Copy the course, Modify Dates, or Create a Section. You can also Edit Course Information or simply Return to Course List. For more details, see Using Your Course/Section Created Page.

    At this point, you may want to edit individual assignment dates by clicking the Modify Dates link. For more details, see Modifying Dates.

    Note: Clicking Student Registration Instructions opens a new page of printable instructions, which you can distribute to students to help them with self-enrollment. This page provides students with the course name and a link to step-by-step instructions. See Setting Up Student Self-Enrollment for more information.
    You may also be able to enroll students manually, depending on the enrollment procedure at your school. For more details on manual enrollment, see Manually Enrolling Users.

Modifying a Template Course Designed by Cengage

Depending on your textbook, you may have a template provided by Cengage you can use to create new courses. These templates contain a course with prebuilt assignments designed to work with the textbook's content. Later however, you can create your own assignments for this course in order to include additional content.

Note: To use this feature, you need access to a textbook that includes a template course.

To modify a template course

Note: If you teach at more than one institution using CNOWv2, verify that you are logged into the appropriate institution before proceeding. See Managing Multiple Institutions for more details.

  1. 1. Go to the Courses page and click the Create a New Course button to open the Choose Process page.
  2. 2. Select Copy an Existing Course, and then select Modify a template course designed by Cengage Learning.
  3. 3. Click Continue to open the Choose Template page.
  4. 4. If your textbook contains multiple templates, select one from the Template dropdown menu. (Required)

    5. (No selection is necessary if there is only one template.)

    Note: Your template(s) will not appear on the menu if you have not yet registered your textbook. In this case, you can Cancel the new course creation process and register for the book before proceeding.

  5. 5. Choose the appropriate content, if multiple selections for an IAC title are present.
  6. 6. Enter a new Course Name. (Required)

    7. You can use the name of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog.

  7. 7. Enter the Course Number.

    8. This can be the number of the course as it appears in your department or institution catalog.

  8. 8. Select the appropriate dates for both the Course starts on and Course ends on date fields. (Required)

    9. You can click on the date field or calendar icon to open the calendar tool for the date field.

    Note: Try to coincide your course start date with your students' registration date. This maximizes your students' trial period, as the start date you select determines when their grace period begins.

  9. 9. (Optional) Adjust the assignment dates by selecting the option to Adjust all assignment dates based on moving the start date of the first assignment to:, and then using the calendar widget to select a new date and time. Click Done in the calendar widget when you are finished.

    10. All assignment dates in the course should now be adjusted relative to the new Start Date selected for the first assignment.

    Note: If you opt to skip this step, the assignments inherited from the template will retain their original dates. You can later adjust assignment dates individually or in bulk by using the Modify Dates feature on the Assignments page. See Modifying Dates for more details.

  10. 10. (Optional) Select the checkbox next to Require students to provide a student ID on login if you need to set up unique and anonymous student identification for your course. When enabled, this option forces students to create their IDs.

    11. This feature is especially useful when you are generating reports for large classes where it is likely that students may have similar names. You also have the ability to create and/or edit individual Student IDs from the Gradebook page.

  11. 11. If you want to provide a Syllabus for the student's Courses page, you can link this course to an existing web page or document.
    • ° Select Link to This URL to display an existing web page syllabus. Enter the entire web address, including the protocol such as http:// or https://.
    • ° Select Link to This File to display an existing syllabus document. Then click Choose File to navigate to the file and click Open to enter the path to the file automatically.

      • Note: The file must be a Microsoft Word .DOC or Adobe .PDF file format, and no larger than 10 megabytes.

    • ° Select None if you do not intend to provide an on-line syllabus by either of the preceding methods.
  12. 12. (Optional) When available, select the checkbox next to Allow students to send emails to the instructor while taking assignments.

    13. With this feature enabled, students can send an email from their assignment take. The email contains their message, the information identifying the specific assignment, a link, and a screen capture allowing you to view the specific question content.

    Note: You can include additional instructor email addresses by clicking the plus button under the Enter Instructor Emails heading and entering a new address.

  13. 13. Click Create Course when the course information is complete and the Course Created page will display information for your new course.

    14. Under the Likely Next Step heading are helpful suggestions for additional tasks based on the make-up of this specific course. You can add assignments with Create an Assignment, Export or Copy the course, Modify Dates, or Create a Section. You can also Edit Course Information or simply Return to Course List. For more details, see Using Your Course/Section Created Page.

    At this point, you may want to edit individual assignment dates by clicking the Modify Dates link. For more details, see Modifying Dates.

    Note: Clicking the Student Registration Instructions link opens a new page displaying the Student Registration Information PDF. You can distribute a copy of this document by email or print to assist students with self-enrollment. This page provides students with the course name and a URL to a CengageBrain site providing step-by-step instructions. See Setting Up Student Self-Enrollment for more information.

    You may also be able to enroll students manually, depending on the enrollment procedure at your school. For more details on manual enrollment, see Manually Enrolling Users.

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