Backing up and restoring your Course from Moodle to eClass

If you'd like to copy content from a prior term on Moodle into a new course you are teaching on eClass, follow the steps below.

Items you should exclude from a course backup:

Below is a list of items that we recommend that you exclude from your course backup and recreate in your new course to avoid issues, these are third party integrations and recreating this links in your new course will ensure that your courses are linked correctly.

  • Adobe connect   -  is specific to your current course, and a new link is not automatically generated for the new course.
     
  • External tool, MATHLAB grader - if you've created links to an external services outside of eClass using LTI such as iClicker, we recommend recreating these for each new course offering.

  • Turnitin - If Turnitin assignments are included in the backup you will get an error when trying to backup the course.  You will need to create new Turnitin assignments in your new course. 

  • Pearson MyLab - Restricted to current registered students who are issued a license code by the publisher. The publisher course expires after the academic term.
      
  • Virtual Programming

  • Zoom

  • Lecture Recording – Each eClass course requires a new course recording profile. If you need to re-use past recordings, copy the link from the previous course lecture recording forum and add it to your new course. 


Backing up a course from moodle.yorku.ca

  1. Log into moodle.yorku.ca 
  2. Go into the course you'd like to create a backup of
  3. Select Backup from the edit gear menu 

  4. On the Backup settings page, select the elements of the course you would like to include in the backup, and then click Next.
  5. On the next page, select the specific activities and resources you would like to include in the backup, keeping in mind the above list of items to be excluded and click Next. 
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. The Complete page appears indicating the backup process has been completed. Click Continue.
  9. 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.


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

Restore your course backup into a new course on eclass.yorku.ca

  1. Log into eclass.yorku.ca
  2. From the course you wish to restore the information into, select Restore from the edit gear menu
  3. From the top ribbon, select More, then Course reuse:
  4. From the top left drop down menu, select Restore. Select the file you created in step 9 in the previous section (the .mbz file) by either dragging and dropping your file into the area or browse for you file using the Choose a file button.  You'll be prompted to select a copyright attestation for your content. To learn more about these copyright statuses visit the copyright website https://copyright.info.yorku.ca/copyright-status-options-for-materials-uploaded-to-moodle/ 
  5. Click Restore.
  6. On the Backup details page confirm that the materials listed are the ones you wish to copy into your new course and select Continue
  7. On the Destination page select Restore into this course and choose Merge the backup course into this course and select Continue. 

    If you already have content in your course and merge in other content just be mindful that you may have duplicates you might need to find and remove once the restore is successful.

  8. Confirm the elements that are being included on the next page and select Next.
  9. On the Course Settings screen make sure Overwrite course configuration is set to No, verify the content you wish to restore into the course is selected and select Next.
  10. View 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. Clicking on Continue will take you to your course page with your new content in place.


Troubleshooting

Turnitin error when restoring

If when restoring your course you see the error below it means that your backup file includes Turnitin assignments which cannot be restored and will need to be recreated in the new course. Repeat the backup process on the course you wish to copy content making sure you exclude any Turnitin assignments during the backup process. 

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