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A Note About Templates

With the upgrade to Blackboard Vista in Spring 2008, instructors now have the ability to copy content from one section to another. For example, if you taught COM 114 in the spring and want to reuse that content, you can easily copy your files, course layout, discussion boards, etc. from your spring section into a summer, fall or subsequent spring section. Each section will remain in eLearning for 1 year, making its content available for copying even if your class is only taught every fall, spring or summer.

We did not have this ability to copy content prior to Vista so the only means we had to reuse content was via a complicated process involving templates. Templates can (and should) still be used as a means for the long term preservation of course content. For example, if your class is only taught every few years, you will need to preserve that content as a template since sections are deleted after a year. Then when you are ready to reuse the content, you would need to apply the template to the section.