Exporting and Importing a Course

Exporting and Importing a Course

Once you've shared a course, you can use Studio's course export and import tools to save a backup copy of the course, then reimport and edit the course as needed.

The file format you mostly use for importing and exporting courses is a tar.gz file.

Course creators can use the course re-run option to duplicate an existing course for a new run.

Make sure course links are bound to other course content using the /jump_to_id/<unit identifier> syntax before you export or import the course. Otherwise, exporting and then importing content, later on, will break the link. Read about How to Add Links to Course Units/ Linking Course Units, to learn more.

Exporting Courses

The following are some examples of why you might want to export your course.

  • To save the work you have done or any changes you may have made.
  • To revise the XML directly within your course.
  • To keep a backup of your course for import in case you wanted to go back to a previous version of your course.
  • To share course content with other team members or users of another course.
  • To create a copy of your course for later import into another instance of the course for further customization.

Studio generates a tar.gz file for the course you export that includes details regarding the course, as shown below.

  • The whole content of the course (including any Sections, Subsections, or Units).
  • The structure of the course.
  • The separate supplementary questions (Individual problems)
  • The course pages
  • The assets of the course
  • The settings for the course

However, the following information is not included in the exported course files.

  • Details about the user
  • Information about the team of the course
  • The details of the discussions
  • Data regarding course certificates
  • Course subsection default settings.

Use the guide below to export your course.

1. Select the Export option from the Tools menu.

2.  Click on Export Course Content.

You can access the tar.gz file on your computer once the export has ended.


Terms Used in Exported Files

In Studio’s Course Outline View, certain terms such as ‘Sections’, ‘Subsections’, ‘Units’, or ‘Components’ are named differently in comparison to the list of files that are visible after exporting the course and is used to edit .xml files. Examples of the diction used in the Course Outline view and the files list are included in the table below.  

For instance, imagine you are looking for a particular section in your course. To do so, when you open the course files list you must look in the Chapter directory. Or if you would like to search for a specific Unit for example, then you must look in the Vertical directory.  

Importing Courses

It is worth noting that when you import a course it replaces the current content available in your course and you Cannot Undo a Course Import. Therefore it is highly recommended to export the current course to keep as a backup in case needed, before importing other course content.

Some possible reasons why you might want to import a course are as follows.

  • To make use of courses you did not develop with Studio.
  • To run updated versions of a course that were created outside of Studio.
  • To develop contents to reuse in other learning systems and courses.

The correct format for the imported course, which you must use, is .tar.gz (a .tar file that is compressed using GNU Zip). In a data directory within the uploaded tar.gz file, there must be a course.xml file as well. Also, the course data directory and the tar.gz file must have the same name. On the other hand, other files may also be included in the tar.gz file.

You may not be able to edit your course in Studio given the course uses legacy layout structures. If you wish to make the course fully editable, make sure all the components are placed within a Unit.

The process of importing a course or course content can be done in 5 steps. For the first 2 stages, you must remain on the Course Import page. However, you can leave the mentioned page once the Unpacking step has finished. Additionally, EdX recommends you don’t make any indispensable changes until after the import operation has ended.

Go through the following steps to import a course.

1. Click on the Import option from the Tools menu.

2. Click the Choose a File to Import button.

3. Navigate to the desired file that you wish to upload. Next, click Open.

4. Click on Replace My Course with the One Above to approve the import.

When importing courses, not only is the current course content replaced but also important data such as the Course Start Date and Time, overrides. After the import is complete, check to see if the dates are set as you originally planned. Read more about Scheduling Course Runs for more information.

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