Last updated on May 13, 2025
When one semester ends and another begins, maintaining a Canvas course can feel overwhelming. You’ve already invested time and energy into creating a robust course, so the good news is that you don’t need to start from scratch. With the right tools and a few key strategies, you can easily update and adapt your course to ensure it remains relevant and effective for a new group of learners. Taking the time to refresh your course allows you to address feedback from previous semesters, update content to reflect the latest information, and fine-tune your materials for clarity and accessibility.
In this Spotlight, we will outline how instructors can maintain their Canvas courses effectively from semester to semester, particularly for those who have gone through the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Design’s (CTLD) course-building cycle. However, these strategies are valuable for any instructor who wants to ensure their courses are ready for a new group of learners. We will also ask experts, the CTLD Instructional Designers, what their tried and true methods are for keeping courses updated and issue-free from semester to semester. By following the steps outlined below, you can update and enhance your course while maintaining a consistent structure for effective teaching.
Best Practices
What are the main tasks to focus on from semester to semester?
- Use the Update Your Course for the New Semester and the CTLD Course Copy Guide.
- These two Spotlights go hand in hand in helping you take the most critical steps in transferring a course cleanly from one semester to the next. Referencing both at the end of a semester will yield the best results.
- Delete any duplicate materials you find, as they can result from issues during the course copy process.
- These errors may cause the same content to appear more than once, so it’s important to review your course and remove any unnecessary duplicates.
- Fix broken links and find alternative content if the material is no longer available or has been removed.
- Resources are ever-changing, and so are the links and websites that are used in your course. It is a worthwhile practice to manually review your links, resources, and third-party content to ensure they are accurate, functional, and relevant.
- Update areas that are specific to each semester.
- The most common areas that need to be updated every semester include your Syllabus, Course Overview, and assignment due dates.
- Visit with an Instructional Design Support Specialist if needed.
- We are here to help. If you run across an issue in maintaining your course or simply want a thought partner in updating your content, please visit our drop-in support page to meet with a staff member.
What are the main pitfalls when maintaining a course from semester to semester?
- Allowing duplicate material to go unaddressed.
- Duplicate materials cause confusion and can create major issues in the gradebook. Duplicate materials should be addressed immediately.
- Forgetting to adjust dates, such as those in the course schedule or those in assignments.
- Adjusting dates is a crucial part of updating a course for the next semester. Look at your syllabus, Course Overview, and all assignments to get started adjusting your due dates.
- Not checking for broken links, outdated material, or material that is no longer available.
- It is always worth using the link validator and skimming through your content before a semester starts to check content for relevance and functional links. Not doing so can confuse your students and cost you time and effort trying to fix these types of issues after they cause problems.
Let’s Walk Through It Together
Step 1: Follow the CTLD Course Copy Guide
The first and most important step in maintaining your course is following the CTLD Copy a Canvas Course Spotlight every semester. While this is a simple task, it is paramount to keeping your course free of duplicate materials while safely bringing your vital content over to the next semester. Even veteran instructors should refer to the CTLD Course Copy guide as they copy course content.
As you follow this guide, focus on the following in the course copy process:
- Select the Select specific content option from the Import Content menu.
- Deselect the checkboxes next to the following pieces of content:
- University Policies and Resources Module
- Template Module
- Pages
- Midpoint Student Feedback Survey
- Student Introductions
This process will ensure that your course does not contain duplicate materials. It is critical to keeping your course organized and easily comprehensible.
Step 2: Update Your Course for the New Term
After you use the CTLD Course Copy guide to copy your course into a new shell, it’s time to check out the Update Your Course for the New Term Spotlight. It will help you to review your course materials to ensure they’re accurate and relevant for the upcoming semester. Editing materials for accuracy mainly consists of editing general course information, due dates on assignments, and general course information, such as your office hours. The following are the most common areas instructors need to modify:
- Syllabus
- Course information module
- Course Schedule
- Creating a New Course Team
- Edit Available from, Available to, and Due dates on all assignments
- Note: Ensure these dates are reflected accurately in the Course syllabus and Course schedule. You can select the Adjust events and due dates option as you copy your course over, but due dates will still need your manual review and editing, as this option creates minor errors. Whether you select or forego this option, follow the CTLD Tutorial on Adjusting All Events and Due Dates after the course copy is completed.
You must manually edit this content every semester to ensure it reflects accurate information. This is by no means an exhaustive list of materials that may require your editing.
Step 3: Refresh Materials and Resources
Replace outdated articles, videos, or links with the most current and reliable resources. If you use external tools or publisher content, ensure that students can still access it in the same way. To get started with identifying broken links, use the Canvas Course Link Validator to identify broken links before the semester begins. Review the CTLD tutorial on Using the Link Validator to learn more.
- Note: While the Canvas Link Validator is a great tool to identify broken links, it is known to report false positives and false negatives. We recommend manually reviewing your links, videos, and other third-party content to assure its functionality and availability.
Step 4: Visit with Instructional Design Support
Maintaining your Canvas course doesn’t have to be a solo effort. The CTLD offers a variety of resources to support you:
- Drop-in Support: Visit our Instructional Design Support Specialists virtually or in person for personalized assistance. Whether you have technical snags, course-design questions, or simply need a thought partner with a new idea, the IDS team can help in real time, virtually or in person at AD 325, Monday-Friday, 10am-3pm.
- Email: If our drop-in support hours don’t work for your schedule, you can always email us to get help outside of our drop-in hours at [email protected].
- Tutorials: Explore our library of step-by-step guides. We walk you through a variety of skills and topics, from how to start building your course to how you can use Artificial Intelligence to enhance student learning.
Wrapping Up
By following these steps, you’ll be ready to start each semester with a well-maintained and engaging Canvas course. A little preparation goes a long way in creating a positive and productive learning environment for your students. If you need help along the way, don’t hesitate to reach out to the CTLD Instructional Design Support Team. Together, we can make your Canvas course a dynamic and impactful space for learning.