Copy assignments

You can copy assignments from a standard Mastering course into a Modified Mastering course as easily as you can copy assignments between two Mastering courses or between two Modified Mastering courses. (Note that you cannot copy a Mastering course using the Copy option in the MyLab & Mastering panel of the Courses page.)

1. Open the course into which you want to copy the assignments.

2. Click Assignments, and then click  Create Assignment.

3. Choose whether to copy assignments from one of your courses or copy pre-built assignments from the publisher (if available).

   

4. Do one of the following:

   • If copying from one of your courses: Select the course to copy the assignment(s) from.
   • If copying a pre-built assignment: Select the book or source (if applicable) and the assignment type.
5. [Optional] Preview an assignment by clicking the assignment title.

6. Select one or more assignments to copy (to select all, click the Select box in the heading row), and then click Continue.

7. [Optional] Before you assign dates, you might want to reorder the list of assignments.

   You can move assignments to different positions in the course, by following these steps:

   1. Click the # column header to sort by assignment number and to make the assignments moveable.
   2. Locate any new, undated assignment(s) at the bottom of the list.

   3. Click anywhere you see your move pointer (often a 4-pointed arrow or a hand), and drag the assignment to a new position in the list. Image

      

8. Click Edit on the top right to edit the Due Date/Time and Availability to Students dates for the assignments.
   

   Tip: Save time by selecting the Due Date/Time first. Doing so adds From and Until dates automatically. The automatic From date is one week before the Due Date/Time, and the Until date is the end date of the course.

   You can change the From date if you want students to see and be able to start work on the assignment before or after the automatic date, but it is recommended that you leave the Until date as the end date of the course.

9. Edit other assignment information, as needed.

1. Click Assignments to display the Assignments list.
2. Click next to the title of the assignment you want to copy.

3. In the assignment menu, click Copy Assignment.

   The copied assignment is added to the bottom of the Assignments list, with "Copy" appended to the title, and with no due date or availability dates.

4. To edit the copied assignment, click , and from the menu click Edit Assignment.

5. On the  Start page, be sure to edit the Assignment Title.

   The title can include upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, spaces, and other keyboard characters. If scores will be transferred to a learning management system gradebook, do not include extended ASCII characters, such as en-dashes, em-dashes, or accents.

6. [Optional] You might also wish to do any of the following:

    Start: Change the category, grading and presentation settings, or staff notes

    Select Content: Assign or unassign items

    Organize Content: Add messages, pool the assignment, randomize items, and so on

    Specify Outcomes: Add, remove, or change learning outcomes

7. When you are ready to assign the new assignment, on the  Preview and Assign page, be sure to specify the due date and availability dates.

Before you can copy another instructor's assignments, you must request the course ID so you can either copy the course that contains the assignments, or enroll as a section instructor in that course. (No section instructor privileges are required to copy assignments.)

Either method adds that course to your Courses list, so you can use the procedure (above) for copying assignments from one of your other courses.

Review all items in a pre-built assignment or an assignment from another instructor, and make any appropriate adjustments for your course. (To edit items, see Simple Editor: Edit or create Mastering items.)

When you base your course on a new edition of a textbook, a correlation chart may be available for you to use as a guide to replace older items with new ones in a copied assignment. The chart indicates whether assignable items are new, changed, or removed from the new edition. The most common difference is the reordering of End-of-Chapter (EOC) and Test Bank items.

A link to the chart, if one is available, is found on the Course Home page under Learn More.

If you plan to use Adaptive Follow-Up assignments in your course, it's important to use the latest published version of each item.

You can copy one assignment to multiple courses by following the steps below. Read more about options, requirements, and best practices for copying to other courses.

1. Click Copy Assignment to Other Courses from either of these locations:

   • The Assignments page (List View or Calendar View), on the menu next to the assignment title
   • The assignment's Overview page, in the Actions box
2. Select the courses into which you want to copy the assignment.

3. [Optional] In the Assignment Title column, add your initials or another marker to help any instructors for the receiving courses find this assignment in their courses.

   • This marker also prevents duplicate titles from occurring in the receiving courses, and allows you to complete the copy even if students have begun working an assignment with the same name in a receiving course.
   • The title doesn't need to be the same for all courses.

4. [Optional] Enter or edit dates for the assignment.

   • The dates can remain blank, in which case instructors for the receiving courses can set the dates themselves.
   • The dates can be different for different courses, to accommodate different class meeting days and times.

5. Click Finish.

   • If you see a confirmation message, the assignment was successfully copied to the courses listed in the message.
   • If you see any error messages, no copies have been completed. You must fix the problems and click Finish again.
6. If you see a message about a date, correct or delete the dates for the affected course.
7. If you see a message about students already having started work on an assignment with the same title, for the affected course, either change the title or clear the Select box.
8. When no message appears at the top of the page, you have addressed all the problems and can click Finish again.

When you copy an assignment from another course or to other courses, a category is applied as follows:

• If a category with the same name as the original category doesn't exist in the receiving course, the first category in the alphabetic list from the receiving course is automatically applied. You should confirm that the applied category's settings are what you want to use for the copied assignment.
• If a category with the same name does exist in the receiving course, that category is applied. Be aware, however, that the category settings might be different.
• The Adaptive category is always used for copied Adaptive Follow-Up assignments. As with other categories, the Adaptive category settings in the receiving course might be different.
• If needed, you can create a custom category in the receiving course for this assignment, or you can customize the settings for the assignment.

Expired courses

You can copy assignments from courses whose end date has passed (expired courses), but not to an expired course.

Duplicate assigned items

Even if an assignment you copy contains items that are already part of another assignment in the course, those items are still copied into the course. If you don't want to assign the same item twice in the same course, see how to tell whether and where an item has already been assigned, and then unassign the item.

About republished items (same textbook edition)

If any items in an assignment you copy have been republished with corrections or improvements in the same textbook edition, those items are updated automatically in the new copy of the assignment. (The original assignment does not get updated, but you can manually update it.)

About inactive items

If Pearson has made an item inactive, it won't be copied to a new assignment.