Copying your course content from eClass to eClass Preview

If you'd like learn about the new features coming on April 30th, you can take a look at them in our eClass Preview environment. In addition you can also copy over your course content from eClass to see how it looks and feels. You can do that by following the steps below:

  1. Back up the course from eClass
  2. Create a playground course in eClass Preview
  3. Restore the back up into the playground course

Please note the following items should be excluded from the course backup:

You'll need to exclude the following items from your course backup as they don't exist on eClass Preview. These are third party integrations and often need to be recreated to function correctly.

  • Adobe Connect
  • ALEKS LTIA
  • External tool - if you've linked to services using the External tool we recommend not including them
  • Crowdmark
  • Matlab Grader
  • Turnitin - If Turnitin assignments are included in the backup you will get an error when trying to backup the course. 
  • Pearson MyLab 
  • Panopto
  • Virtual Programming Lab
  • Zoom


Backing up a course

  1. Select Backup from the cog wheel menu 

  2. On the Backup settings page, select the elements of the course you would like to include in the backup, and then click Next. We recommend proceeding with the default settings.
  3. On the next page, select the specific activities and resources you would like to include in the backup, and click Next. (Please see our note at the top of the page to determine which elements to exclude)
  4. On the Confirmation and review page:
    • Edit the Filename to something you will be able to recognize, such as the course code and backup date. Review all the Backup settings and Included items. You can go back and change any of the items by clicking Previous at the bottom of the page.
  5. When you are satisfied with the backup review, click Perform backup to continue. It may take several minutes to perform the backup, especially with larger courses. Once your back up has begun, do not click any buttons or links until the Complete page appears.
  6. The Complete page appears indicating the backup process has been completed. Click Continue.
  7. The Import a backup file page appears. Your course backup will appear in the User private backup area on this page, where it can be downloaded to your computer. Click Download and save the file in a convenient folder on your device.


The course back up file is saved as a .mbz file. This is a unique file type for Moodle course backups and cannot be opened by other programs.


Create a Playground course on eClass Preview

A playground course is a great opportunity to try things out without affecting your current course design. You can play around with different layouts, formats or try out a new tool to see how it works. 

Please do not add students to the course or run your course from here.

Follow the steps below to create a Playground course:

  1. Login to the Preview environment at https://preview.eclass.yorku.ca with your Passport York (PPY) credentials
  2. Click on Create Playground link at the top left side

  3. Enter a name for your playground course that will help you easily identify it and click Create my playground course
  4. Click on your Course name to access your newly created playground course.


Restore your course backup into a  playground course on Preview

If your course from the previous term is in Menu/Tab format, ensure to set your playground course to also use the Menu/Tab format on the settings page before restoring the course. 

  1. Click on More icon at the top navigation

  2. Click on Course Reuse from the menu

  3. Click on the drop down at the top left side and select Restore

  4. Open the folder containing your course back up file
  5. Drag and drop the course back up file to the dashed area and click on Restore

  6. Review the items included in the back up and click on Continue
  7. On the Destination page choose Merge the backup course into this course within select Restore into this course section and select Continue.

    Please note: If you already have content in your playground course, merging the content may result in duplicate items. Once the restore is successful, you may need to find and remove duplicates.

  8. Click on Next on the Settings page
  9. On the Schema page, ensure Overwrite course configuration is set to No, verify the content you wish to restore into the course is selected and select Next.
  10. Review the final confirmation page and select Perform Restore.
  11. You'll see a progress bar indicating percentage of completion and when the restore is complete you will see a success message. Click on Continue to view your course page with the new content in place.🎉

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