Master Courses allow you to manage content for multiple courses in one central location. Save time by setting up your Master and Derivative courses so you can copy between sections, terms, and school years. Please note that due dates for Traditional (Range) courses do not copy down to course copies, so you must enter due dates for each individual course.
This diagram illustrates the basic relationships between a Master Course and the various types of copies you can create from it.
- Master Course: Master Courses should be used for content creation and management and shouldn't be used as live courses (students should not be enrolled in Master Courses). You can turn any standalone course into a Master Course by making a Derivative copy of it (the different Derivative course types are described below). Once you create a Derivative Course, you no longer have access to any enrollment data that exists in the Master Course (gradebook, students, etc).
- Derivative Courses: All Derivative Courses begin as duplicates of the Master Course and inherit applicable data and changes made to the Master. Data that is related to teaching a specific class instance (e.g., Student Enrollments, Groups, Course Title, Start and End Dates, Agendas, Submissions, Posts) is not inherited.
- Unlinking Derivative Course Elements: You can unlink Master Course inheritance in any single element (e.g., an activity, a folder, a question) of a Derivative Course by changing the desired element in the Derivative. Once unlinked, the Master Course no longer impacts that element; however, the rest of the Derivative Course remains linked and subject to changes in the Master.
- Relinking Derivative Course Elements: You can relink inheritance in most elements of a Derivative Course by changing that element to match the Master Course again. Once relinked, the element is again subject to changes in the Master. This is not true of assessment questions; altering an assessment question creates a new ID, so that question cannot be relinked to the Master by changing it back.
Child/Sibling Courses
- Derivative Child Course: This exact copy of the Master inherits changes to the Master. This option works best when you are copying a course with only content and no students are enrolled because once a Derivative Child Copy is made you can no longer access student enrollment information in the Master Course.
- Derivative Child Course (altered): This altered copy of the Master inherits changes to all unaltered elements of the Master.
- Derivative Sibling Course: This is an exact copy of an altered Derivative Child Course that continues to inherit changes to all unaltered elements of the Master. This option works best when you want to make a copy of an active course in which students are enrolled, because after making a Derivative Sibling Copy, you can still access the student enrollment information in the Master Course.
Tip
- Save time by setting up your Master and Derivative courses so you can copy between sections, terms, school years, etc.
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