20.1. Re-running a Course#

Another way to create a course in Studio is to re-run an existing course. When you re-run a course, most, but not all, of the original course content is duplicated to the new course. The original course is not changed in any way.

20.1.1. Data Duplicated When You Re-Run a Course#

Type of Content

Duplicated to New Course?

Course start date

No. Set to midnight on January 1, 2030 (UTC).

All other course dates

Yes. You must update all release dates and due dates.

Course structure (sections, subsections, units) and state (published, hidden)

Yes.

Individual problems and other components

Yes.

Files uploaded to the course, including videos and textbooks

Yes.

Pages added to the course

Yes, including all page content and the defined page order.

Course updates

Yes.

Prerequisite course subsection settings

No.

Advanced settings

Yes.

Grading policy

Yes.

Student enrollment data

No.

Course team privileges, including admins, discussion moderators, beta testers

No. Only the user who created the new course has access to it.

Manually created cohorts

No.

Student answers, progress, and grading data

No.

Certificates

Yes.

Discussion posts, responses, comments, and other data

No.

Wiki contributions

No.

After you create a re-run course, modifications to the original course and the re-run course are independent. Changes to either course have no effect on the other course. Therefore, you should ensure that the original course content is as complete as possible before you re-run the course.

For more information, see Re-Run a Course and Update the New Course.

20.1.2. Re-Run a Course#

Note

After the end date for a course has passed, the course moves to the Archived Courses tab on the Studio dashboard. If the course that you want to re-run is not visible on the Courses tab, look for the course on the Archived Courses tab.

Options for creating a course re-run differ for courses on edx.org and Edge.

  • For courses on edx.org, the course team uses Publisher to re-run courses. For more information about how to create a course run, see Creating a Course Run in Publisher.

  • For courses on Edge, the course team can use the course Import and Export options to re-run a course, or your edX project coordinator can use the Re-Run Course option.

    Note

    A course team member who has course creation privileges must create a new course when you use the Import and Export options.

    We strongly encourage course teams to use the Import and Export options to create a course re-run. This method takes less time than the Course Re-Run option because this method does not require action from edX.

20.1.2.1. Export and Import the Previous Course#

Note

Courses on edx.org must use Publisher to re-run courses.

To use the import and export options to re-run a course, follow these steps.

  1. In Studio, open the course that you want to re-run.

  2. Export your course.

  3. In Studio, create a new course.

    Note

    You must have course creation privileges to create a new course. If you do not have course creation privileges, contact a member of the course team who has these privileges, or your organization’s administrator.

  4. In the new course, import the content from the previous course.

  5. After the import operation is complete, review and update the settings and content for the new course.

20.1.2.2. Use the Course Re-Run Option#

Note

Before you re-run a course, make sure that its settings and content are complete. Additions and changes that you make to the original course after you create the new course have no effect on the new course.

Note

Courses on edx.org must use Publisher to re-run courses.

For courses on Edge, we strongly recommend that you use the Import and Export options.

To use the Re-Run Course option, you must contact your project coordinator.

20.1.3. Update the New Course#

When you create a course by re-running another course, you must carefully review the settings and content of the new course. To assure a quality experience for learners, be sure to test the course thoroughly before the course start date. See Testing Your Course Content and Beta Testing a Course.

At a minimum, you must make the following changes to prepare the new course for release.

  • Add course team members, including discussion admins, moderators, and community TAs. See Add Course Team Members or Planning Course Staff.

  • Update course-wide dates, including course and enrollment start and end dates. See Scheduling a Course Run.

  • Change the release dates of course sections, subsections, and units. See Release Dates.

  • Change the due dates of subsections that are part of your grading policy. See Set the Assignment Type and Due Date for a Subsection.

  • Delete or edit posts on the Course Updates page in Studio. See Add a Course Update.

  • For a course that includes learner cohorts, set up the cohorts and select a strategy for assigning learners to the cohorts.

  • For a course that includes drag and drop problems, replace any problems created prior to April 2016 with the newer drag and drop problem component, which is accessible and mobile ready. For more information about enabling the new drag and drop problem type and adding these problems to your course, see Drag and Drop Problem.

The following additional changes can also improve the experience of learners who enroll in the new course run.

  • Review the files on the Files & Uploads page. To update a file that contains references to course-related dates, you must complete the following steps.

    1. Locate the source file.

    2. Change course-related dates in the file.

    3. Upload the revised version of the file.

    Note

    If you use the same file name when you upload a revised file, links to that file in course components and course handouts will continue to work correctly. If you rename a file and then upload it, you must also update all links to the original file name. See Add a Course Handout or Add a Link to a File.

  • Review the staff biographies and other information on the course About page and make needed updates. See Planning Course Information (edx.org and Edge Courses) and Planning Course Run Information (edx.org and Edge Courses).

  • Create initial posts for discussion topics and an “introduce yourself” post. See Creating Course Discussions.

  • Add initial wiki articles.

  • For a course that includes core problem types, including checkbox, text input, or math expression input problems, review the Markdown-style formatting or OLX markup of any problems created before September 2016. For more information about the updates that you can make to improve the accessibility of these problem types, see the Release Notes.

  • If your course uses prerequisite course subsections to hide course subsections until learners complete other, prerequisite subsections, configure the prerequisite course subsections. See Prerequisite Course Subsections.

  • If your course includes instructions for learners, verify that the instructions reflect the current user interface of the LMS.

    For example, you could revise a description of the problem Check button, which was accurate before October 2016, to reflect its new label, Submit.

    Another example of a user interface change is for courses on the edx.org website. A new Help option was added to the LMS in September 2016 to provide access to the EdX Learner’s Guide. When this option was added, the previous Help option was renamed Support.

For more information about tools and ideas that can help you prepare a course for launch, see Course Launching Activities.

Note

Changes you make in the new course have no effect on the original course.