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Canvas Blueprint Course Functionality

Markette Pierce Updated by Markette Pierce

Canvas Blueprint Course Functionality

Rationale

Keeping the -M course in synch with the Training and Demo courses is important so that facilitators and potential customers can see an accurate representation of the course. In the past, there has been drift between the -M and the -T and Demo courses, and -T and Demo courses were manually updated whenever a -M underwent fixes or updates. Moving to the Blueprint process ensures that Training and Demo courses are synced to the master course and provides an easy way to know that a sync between them is needed.

Beginning in January 2024, all newly developed or redux courses will be made into Blueprint Masters with their Training and Demo courses associated to that Blueprint upon deployment, and courses needing course maintenance will be made into Blueprint Masters and associated when addressing course maintenance tickets. 

Workflow Overviews

Newly Deployed Courses

As of January 2024, all newly deployed Master courses will be made into Blueprints by the QA team. The QA team will create and associate the Training course with the Blueprint Master, and the course operations team will associate the Demo course once it is created in Destiny. 

Redux/ Revised Courses

As of January 2024, all redux courses will be made into Blueprints by the QA team as part of their re-deployment. The QA team will un-associate the Training and Demo courses from the prior Blueprint Master (if needed), delete all content from the -T and Demo courses, and associate them with the new Blueprint Master.

Currently Live Courses

Beginning in January 2024, once the required maintenance has been completed in the -M course, the QA team will be tagged in the Wrike task and will take on the creation of the Blueprint Master and associating the -T and Demo courses with it.

Setting an -M Course as a Blueprint 

  1. Make sure no students are enrolled in the course.
  2. From Settings, check the box to Enable Course as a Blueprint Course 
  3. Make sure all options in the Blueprint Course area are unchecked (see pic)
  4. Click Update Course Details
  5. Check for success: a blue box with cascading squares now appears at the top right of the Blueprint course. (You may need to reload the course.) This is where you can access blueprint functionality.
Make sure that the subaccount in the blueprint master's settings is showing as eCornell (the root account), unless there is a need for it to be set to something else, as in a custom course. Tip: the subaccount should not be "Manually-Created Courses."

Note that this icon also appears elsewhere in the blueprint course, as shown below: modules view, discussions, assignments, etc., indicate that the content therein is Blueprint material that will be synced to any associated courses.

Associating Courses With the Blueprint Course

Once a course (for our purposes, an -M course) has been designated as a Blueprint course, you can associate courses to this blueprint. We intended to associate training and demo versions with the -M Blueprint to keep them in sync. To accomplish this…

  1. Open the course you intend to associate and ensure it is entirely blank. If so, you can close it. If not, you will need to use the content deletion utility before proceeding. 
  2. Open the -M course 
  3. Click the blue cascading squares in the top right corner to access Blueprint functionality
  4. Select Associations
    1. Courses that have been associated already will appear under Associated 
  5. Search Courses for the course you’d like to associate with the blueprint
    1. If the course you'd like to associate doesn't show up in the search, make sure that in the subaccounts of both courses match in settings.
  6. Under Courses, check the box next to the course you searched for
  7. Repeat for additional courses that need to be associated
  8. In the bottom right corner, click Save after you’ve selected your associations
    1. You can also choose to publish the associated course at this step
  9. You should receive an “Associations saved successfully” message, and the course will now appear under Associations
  10. Click Done to exit this view
  11. If the course you’ve just associated is blank, it will begin automatically syncing to the Blueprint course.

Syncing Associated Courses With a Blueprint Course

After making updates to a Blueprint -M course, you will need to tell Canvas to sync the associated courses with the blueprint. To do this: 

  1. Click the blue cascading squares in the top right corner to access Blueprint functionality.
  2.  If changes need to be synced, you will see an Unsynced Changes section with a number.

  1. Select Include Course Settings, if needed, but be sure to leave Send Notification blank. Click the Sync button.
  2. The Unsynced Changes section will update to say Processing. After processing is complete, the associated courses will match the -M again. 
  3. Once complete, the Blueprint area will show Associations and Sync History.
  4. To check your work, you can click Sync History. Here, you can see a more detailed view of what course components were updated, when, and by whom. 

Updating Courses That Are Populated With Content, i.e., Addressing Product Maintenance Tasks

Courses that have content in them (i.e., previously live Training and Demo courses) will need to have that content removed before associating them with a Blueprint Master to avoid duplicate, non-associated content. The QA team will be responsible for removing all content  — assignments, assignment groups, modules, pages, discussions, announcements, pages, quizzes, and files — using the content deletion utility rather than using “Reset Course” functionality, which changes the course URL.

Workflow for Anyone Working Product Maintenance Tasks
  1. Make the changes required by the product maintenance task in the -M course.
    1. Note that Blueprints do not associate with live sections. You will still need to make the needed changes in any live section, if critical to course operation. 
  2. If the -M course is not already a Blueprint, @mention someone who has been trained to safely remove course content that the -M needs to be made into a Blueprint and the -T and Demo courses associated with it.
  3. If the -M course is already a Blueprint, the -T and Demo have already been associated with the Blueprint Master before you’ve made any updates, and you should see Unsynced Changes in the Blueprint dialog in the Master course. Sync those changes following the instructions above. 
Workflow for QA Team Members and Folks Trained in Using the Content Deletion Utility
  1. Make the changes required by the product maintenance task in the -M course.
    1. Note that Blueprints do not associate with live sections. You will still need to make the needed changes in any live section, if critical to course operation. 
  2. If the -M has not yet been made into a Blueprint...
    1. Make the -M a Blueprint following the instructions above.
    2. Use the content deletion utility to remove all content from the Training and Demo courses.
    3. Back in the -M, associate the Training and Demo courses with the Blueprint -M using the instructions above. 
    4. Sync the changes using the instructions above.
      1. On initial association, the sync will be automatic, since the -T and Demo courses will have been made entirely blank. 
  3. If the -M course is already a Blueprint, the -T and Demo have already been associated with the Blueprint Master before you’ve made any updates, and you should see Unsynced Changes in the Blueprint dialog in the Master course. Sync those changes following the instructions above.

Troubleshooting

Occasionally, you may encounter issues using the blueprint functionality. See below for known issues and their resolution.

  1. Issue: The associated courses do not populate with content and appear blank after syncing. Because the cause(s) of this issue can be tough to root out, reach out to Markette for an assist. If the same "child" course has been associated, un-associated, and re-associated with the blueprint -M course, a new -M will need to be made and the existing -M retired. -T and DEMO courses should sync as expected upon association with the new -M course.
  2. Issue: The homepage in a PRJ converted course does not load. The issue is that the homepage has CANVAS_OBJECT_REFERENCE in the URLs, because they were built before the 11/11/2024 homepage update. To fix it, open the homepage in the -M course in the editor and press save. It will automatically be repaired and ready to copy. Then, re-sync the updated -M course with the -T and DEMO courses.

How did we do?

3. Create -T (Training Course) and Associate With Master Blueprint

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