Copying Content and Full Courses in Blackboard (How-to)

Before the start of the semester, you should get your Blackboard course ready for students. Students begin looking for their course material on the first day of classes and can easily become frustrated if the course is not set up or is missing content. For more information, see Best Practices: Course Content.

NOTE: Copying a course in Blackboard will only guarantee the copying of Blackboard content. It may not copy any third-party connections including Panopto video access, or connections to textbook ancillaries; those need to be checked and addressed separately. 

• Reusing Questions in Ultra Courses Only: Ultra courses can reuse questions between courses without copying the whole course content. This is a new feature and only works between Ultra courses.

Course Copy Options 

• I have instructor access to both courses and want to copy individual content items or the whole course
• Another instructor has access to one course and we want to share content
• I got an error when copying courses about course size limits

For reusing existing course materials in Blackboard you can copy your course content from one course to another. 

Simple Instructions for a Whole Course

From the current course shell, you can copy all the content from another course or select individual items from another course you teach.

1. On the Content page, select the top most ellipses menu (...) to access the Copy Items option. 
2. All of your Ultra courses appear in the Your Courses and Organizations list. If you teach many courses, use the search bar to find courses by name or course ID.
3. Build your list of content to copy:
   1. Select a course's check box to copy all of its content into the current course.
   2. Select a course's name to explore its content and select the check boxes next to the folders and individual items you want to copy. Items can also be selected from within the course you are currently designing.
   3. Do both! You can copy all content from one course and a few items from another. Re-use the Copy Items option to copy content from more than one course at a time.
4. To return to your course list and continue adding to the list, select the book icon next to the course title and select Your Courses and Organizations.
5. Select View All in the Selected Items section at the bottom of the panel to edit and view the content you've chosen. Review your selections and clear the check boxes next to any items you don't want to copy.

Check boxes appear differently when you select entire folders or items within folders. A check mark next to a folder indicates you've selected the entire folder for copy. A dash appears when you've selected some pieces of content in the folder.

Simple Instructions for Granular Copies of Items within Existing Content

From within the current course, you can copy content directly inline where you wish the copied content to appear.  

1. On the Content page, select any (+) between/above/below existing content to access the Copy Content option.
2. All of your Ultra courses appear in the Your Courses and Organizations list. If you teach many courses, use the search bar to find courses by name or course ID.
3. Build your list of content to copy:
   1. Select a course's check box to copy all of its content into the current course.
   2. Select a course's name to explore its content and select the check boxes next to the folders and individual items you want to copy. Items can also be selected from within the course you are currently designing.
   3. Do both! You can copy all content from one course and a few items from another. Re-use the Copy Content option to copy content from more than one course at a time.
4. To return to your course list and continue adding to the list, select the book icon next to the course title and select Your Courses and Organizations.
5. Select View All in the Selected Items section at the bottom of the panel to edit and view the content you've chosen. Review your selections and clear the check boxes next to any items you don't want to copy.

Check boxes appear differently when you select entire folders or items within folders. A check mark next to a folder indicates you've selected the entire folder for copy. A dash appears when you've selected some pieces of content in the folder.

ITS staff must have permission from the past instructor before copying their course content into another instructor's Blackboard course. Please create a Blackboard Ultra Request to share course content. To expedite the request, please include proof of permission or include the other instructor's information to be notified when requesting a course copy from another instructor's course offering. 

NOTE: Copying a course in Blackboard will only guarantee the copying of Blackboard content. It may not copy any third-party connections via Blackboard courses such as Panopto video access, or connections to textbook ancillaries, etc. 

Courses are now restricted to no more than 2GB of storage space per course. Please do not upload videos directly to your Blackboard courses as this is likely to cause course storage overages. Please use our available video streaming services available. Learn more at Reducing Your Blackboard Course Storage (How-to).

If you have any further questions, please schedule a Blackboard Ultra Request (Consultation) with your local Learning Management System Administrators.