Course Copy with VoiceThread and Assignment Builder

Note

Working out of a Development Course Site when using VoiceThread and Assignment Builder is recommended.

Assuming you have used the VoiceThread integration in Brightspace, performing a Course Copy will automatically perform the following actions to the VoiceThreads and VoiceThreads within Assignments in a Brightspace Course:

  • Copy the item in Course Content to the destination course using the same name.
  • Preserve all comments and slides added by anyone with the Brightspace role of Instructor in the previous course.
  • Strip all comments and slides added by anyone with the Brightspace role of Student in the previous course.
  • Copy your VoiceThread into the destination course's VoiceThread Course Folder (Individual VoiceThreads only, Assignment Builder VoiceThreads do not appear in the Course Folder or on the VT Home Page).

Note

It may be necessary to open and inspect the new copy of the VoiceThread(s) in the destination course to verify that any of the instructor-made comments in direct reply to students are removed manually.

Some other behaviors to be aware of:

The VoiceThread Home Page and an Assignment Builder Assignment are exclusive from each other.

Once you select a VoiceThread for a Comment or Watch Assignment, or anyone creates a VoiceThread in a Create Assignment, those VoiceThreads and the comments and slides that are added to them are not viewable from the VoiceThread Home Page any longer, only from within the Assignment. All changes made after the VoiceThread has been copied to or made inside the Assignment, disconnects the VoiceThread from any version on the VoiceThread Home Page.

VoiceThreads and Assignments copy from the original course they were built or linked in.

When you copy forward Assignments in Brightspace, Assignment Builder will copy from the course where the VoiceThread(s) and Assignment(s) were originally created or linked. For instance, if you build Assignments in a Spring 2023 Course, and you continue using Assignment Builder for several semesters (copying SP23 to FA23, then your FA23 to SP24), each time you make the course copy, VoiceThread and Assignment Builder are going to copy all of the VoiceThread(s) and Assignment(s) from the SP23 course in which the Assignments were originally created or linked.  This is important to know because if changes need to be made to Assignments or the VoiceThreads within them, it will require the Assignments/VoiceThreads be updated within the SP23 course. You could not make the changes in the SP24 course and expect the changes to appear in the FA24 if you copied SP24 to FA24.

Copy logic for VoiceThreads and Assignments into a new course only happens once.

When you copy a course containing VoiceThread(s) and/or Assignment Builder Assignment(s) from one course to another, the logic that copies all the data from the VoiceThread(s) or Assignment(s) into the new semester's Course will only occur one time on the first copy. For instance, if you copy an Assignment from your SP23 course to your FA 23 course, and you need to make changes to the SP23 VoiceThread in the Assignment or to the Assignment Settings, unfortunately, you will not see those new updates come to the FA23 course upon copying a second time. 

The only way to resolve this issue is to perform the changes to the VoiceThread(s) or Assignment(s) in both courses of which it now exists. If that can't work, a new Brightspace site must be requested in which the initial copy with the updates already made in the original course can be copied.