Exporting and Sharing Canvas Course Content

We recommend that faculty members keep copies of materials and the gradebook from their Canvas courses on network space provided by HWS IT Services. There are many different ways to export and share course content. 

Exporting an Entire Course

You can export an entire Canvas course to give to someone else to upload to their Canvas site, to upload to another institution's account at a later date, or to create a copy as a backup on your local computer. Exports are packaged as IMSCC ZIP files, which can only be opened by programs that support Common Cartridge files, ie, Canvas or another Learning Management System. You can also change the extension from .imscc to .zip and treat it as any other ZIP file.

1. Enter your course on Canvas.
2. On the left, click Settings.
3. On the right, click Export Course Content.
4. Click Create Export.
5. When the export completes, click the New Export link.

Exporting Quizzes

You can export just your quizzes from a course. They will export in a .zip file, but the files inside won't be understandable outside of a Canvas course.

1. Enter your course on Canvas.
2. On the left, click Settings.
3. On the right, click Export Course Content.
4. Click the Quiz radio button and use the check boxes to select the quizzes you wish to export.
5. Click Create Export.
6. When the export completes, click the New Export link.

Note: If you have used question banks it is recommended that you export your entire course and then use a selective course import when adding the quizzes and question banks into a new course.

Exporting the Gradebook

You can export scores from the gradebook and download them to your computer as a CSV file. It is recommended that this is done for archival purposes and that no changes be made to the exported CSV file.

1. Enter your course on Canvas.
2. On the left, click Grades.
3. In the Actions menu, click Export.

The export will download automatically, but you can access previous exports by clicking the Actions menu in the gradebook at any time.

Sharing with Faculty at HWS

You can customize the visibility of a Canvas course site.

1. Enter your course on Canvas.
2. On the left, click Settings.
3. In the Visibility section's dropdown menu, choose Institution.
4. Click Update Course Details.

Setting the visibility to Institution will allow anyone with HWS credentials to view, as a student, the Canvas course site. Note: Content that will be visible to non-enrolled viewers is limited based on the view chosen. 

Sharing with Faculty Outside of HWS

• A short, narrated screencast of you navigating your Canvas site as a student is a great way to share your course design with other colleagues.
• If you would prefer a written narrative over video you can use the snipping tool on a PC or CMD+SHIFT+4 on a Mac to take screen captures of different areas within your Canvas course to add to a narrative document.
• You can export a Canvas course to upload to another institution's account at a later date. Exports are packaged as IMSCC ZIP files, which can only be opened by programs that support Common Cartridge files. Many learning management systems (LMS) support Common Cartridge files but the course material is likely to not look the same if imported into a different LMS.

Need additional help? Contact the HWS IT Services Digital Learning Team.