Importing Content

 
 

This is very IMPORT-tant!

Most of us in Washington state migrated to Canvas from ANGEL, however, there are several colleges that transitioned to Canvas from other learning management (LMS) systems.  Most of you will probably end up choosing to build from scratch in Canvas, but some of you may decide to import an existing course or selected content from a different platform or another Canvas instance.

Importing entails creating an export of a course cartridge from ANGEL, Blackboard, or Moodle, then downloading the cartridge to your computer and finally importing it into Canvas.  A course cartridge (.imsc file) can also be exported from any Canvas course.  Regardless of which system you migrate from, the import process is similar.  If you need some extra help, remember that your campus eLearning office is happy to assist you in making the transition. 

Below are some important words to understand in case you need to ask for help migrating your course.

  • Import: to bring in a packaged set of information or files into Canvas; this information is typically packaged as a .zip or .imscc file and is often referred to as a Course Cartridge
  • Export: to take a packaged set of information or files out of Canvas or another LMS; this information is typically packaged as a .zip or .imscc file and is often referred to as a Course Cartridge
  • Upload: to bring a file or folder into the Canvas Files manager or into a Module from your computer
  • Download: to take a file or folder out of Canvas or off of the web to save to your computer; by default, most downloaded files are housed in the "Downloads" folder of your computer

Learning Resources:

Explore the Guides links below.  Each link will open in a new tab.  You can return to Canvas by clicking on the Canvas tab in your browser. 

Watch

Read

Extras

After exploring the Guides link, return to Canvas and click the "Next" button at the bottom right of the page to move to the next section of the module.

 
 
TIP: Some computers have software that auto-unzips files.  This is especially true for Mac users.  If content packages export to your computer as multiple folders instead of as a single .zip file, .QTI , or other course cartridge, you will need to disable the auto-unzip feature on your computer or in your browser.  You can also rezip the files from your computer if needed.