Brightspace Tip #579: Master Copies of Courses

A few weeks after the end of the semester, all Spring 2026 courses will be changed to an inactive status. Once the courses are changed to an inactive status, student work and grades will be visible to the instructor but students will no longer have access to the course.

The current policy is that courses will remain on the Brightspace system for three semesters before they are removed. You can request a Brightspace Master Course Shell that you can use to make a copy of your course. Master Course Shells will not be removed from the Brightspace system. If you would like your course content/materials to be available in Brightspace beyond the current retention period of three semesters, you should request a Master Course Shell for the course.

A Master Course Shell:

• Is a course environment an instructor uses to develop and maintain course materials that are used from semester to semester.
• Is not tied to Banner. Therefore, no students or other users are enrolled into this Shell.
• Can be used as a "master" where one keeps permanent changes to a course.
• Faculty may copy content from a Master Course Shell into a Brightspace Course shell as long as they are enrolled as an instructor in both shells.
• Master Course Shells are not deleted except upon the request of the instructor or when the instructor is no longer employed at Xavier.

A Time-Saving Tool for Instructors

Master Course Shells can be a timesaving tool for instructors. Using a Master Course Shell gives instructors time to build their courses the way they want, when they want, and update it as needed. Think of a Master Course Shell as a template course instructors can build once and use repeatedly. Here's how instructors typically use Master Course Shells:

1. Build Master Course: Develop a course (e.g., lectures, assignments, instructional materials, assessments) in the Master Shell. This becomes your baseline course structure.
2. Copy to Current Course: When ITC has created your course for the new semester, copy the Master Course Shell contents into your new empty course that ITC created.
3. Adapt for the Semester (Optional): Instructors can customize the copied course content to fit their needs for the current semester. This might involve adding new material, removing outdated content, or adjusting deadlines.
4. Keeping the Master Course Shell Up-to-Date: If you make significant changes to the active course during the semester, the Master Course Shell becomes outdated. To update the Master Course Shell with these changes, you can request a Course Reset for your Master Course Shell. A course reset permanently deletes course content, activities, and associated files. After the reset, you would copy the contents from the active course into your Master Course Shell. So, now your Master Course Shell has the latest course materials and information.

NOTE: To request a course reset for a Master Course Shell, send an email to jflorent@xula.edu and include the exact name of the Master Course Shell that you would like reset.

Follow these steps to do it.

First, fill out the Brightspace Master Course Request Form.

To copy existing course into a Master Course Shell:

1. In the NavBar of your Master Course Shell, click on "Course Admin".
2. Click on the "Import/Export/Copy Components" link.
3. Click on the "Copy Components from another Org Unit" radio button.
4. In the Course to Copy option, click the "Search for Offering" button.
5. Click on the magnifying glass in the "Search for" field.
6. Click on the radio button to the right of the course you want to make a copy of and then click on "Add Selected".
7. Verify your selections are correct before proceeding.
8. At the bottom on the browser window you will click on either "Copy all Components" OR "Select Components" and follow the prompts.

When building a course from scracth:

1. Add your content and learning activities to your Master Course Shell.
2. Get into the destination course (the course you want to copy the contents of the Master Course Shell into).
3. In the NavBar (of the course you want the content copied to), click on "Course Admin".
4. Click on the "Import/Export/Copy Components" link.
5. Click on the "Copy Components from another Org Unit" radio button.
6. In the Course to Copy option, click the "Search for Offering" button.
7. Click on the magnifying glass in the "Search for" field.
8. Click on the radio button to the right of your Master Course Shell and then click on "Add Selected".
9. Verify your selections are correct before proceeding.
10. At the bottom on the browser window you will click on either "Copy all Components" OR "Select Components" and follow the prompts.

Want more information?

Brightspace Master Course Request Form
Brightspace Tip #559: Copy Course or Copy Components
Import/Export/Copy - Copy Components video [1:31]

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call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

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Image credit: Duplicate Original by woodleywonderworks is licensed under CC BY 2.0