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Overview

Developers for some Part 3 Course Development courses have requested the ability to reuse content from UniSA learnonline and UoA MyUni. Guidelines and dedicated content reuse courses have been established to make this process easier and to ensure alignment with the AU curriculum.

When is content reuse appropriate?

Get pedagogical/design support

Before you reuse content, we recommend reviewing it with your TALAS course development supports to determine whether creating the content new for AU is more appropriate.

It is expected that content for AU courses is developed new to ensure alignment with the AU curriculum. However, content reuse from UniSA learnonline and UoA MyUni may be appropriate where existing content:

offers high-quality contemporary learning experiences
is genuinely aligned with the AU curriculum, modularisation and AU Course Template (or can be easily realigned)
does not contain UniSA/UoA branding (or can be easily rebranded)
can be imported into AU Canvas without breaking or losing functionality (or can be easily repaired).

Content should be reused sparingly - content reuse is not an avenue for creating exact copies of UniSA and UoA courses in AU Canvas. By engaging in content reuse, you are accepting the risk that some content may require manual repair or recreation.

Additional considerations for video content

Video content is generally less appropriate for reuse compared to other content types, as editing videos to rebrand them and align them with the AU Curriculum is not always possible. In most cases, recreating videos new for AU will be more appropriate and less time-consuming. Before reusing any video content, it is strongly recommended that you reach out to the Media Production Team for advice at mediaproduction@adelaide.edu.au.

Note as well that lecture recordings are not appropriate for reuse, only concept videos. If you're wanting to reuse lecture recordings made by guest presenters that cannot be easily recreated, please seek advice from the Media Production Team.

The 4 Rs of Content Reuse

To ensure appropriate reuse, we recommend following the 4 Rs of Content Reuse:

1 | REFINE
Refine your search for content to only that which is appropriate for reuse and necessary for your AU course.

2 | REUSE
Copy content into your AU Canvas course for reuse (methods will vary).

3 & 4 | REPAIR & REALIGN
Review copied content and repair and/or realign it so that it is functional and aligned with the AU Curriculum. Most content will require some repair and/or realignment. You should recreate anything that cannot be repaired and/or realigned.

Content reuse access methods and availability

How you access content for reuse will depend on the specific type of content you're trying to reuse. This guide will provide general explanation of the different methods. Specific advice for each content type is provide elsewhere in this training module.

The Temporary Content Repository

To streamline the content reuse process, AU has collaborated with Instructure (the company who owns Canvas) to copy the most recently delivered 2024 instances of Year 1 and 2 courses from UniSA learnonline and UoA MyUni into AU Canvas. These courses will be available as a repository of reusable content (this does not include the migrated Year 3 and 4 courses which will be delivered in 2026 without modification).

You will be able to search the Temporary Content Repository for content relevant to your course and, once you confirmed it to be appropriate for reuse, copy it into your AU Canvas course by copy/pasting with your mouse and keyboard or using Canvas's individual/course content import tools (depending on the content type).

Importing content directly from learnonline and MyUni

It is recommended that you reuse content from the Temporary Content Repository wherever possible. However, external tool content, like videos and H5Ps, will not be reusable from Repository courses. This is because linked/embedded external tool content within Repository courses will direct to their UniSA/UoA instances, not their AU instances (i.e., videos will link to UniSA Panopto or UoA Echo360, not AU Panopto).

Certain content types may otherwise be broken or missing in Repository courses due to import errors and/or there being a lack of equivalency between Moodle and Canvas content types (UniSA learnonline only).

To reuse external tool content or re-import broken content, you may need to conduct manual imports from the existing institutions' learning management systems. If you do not have access to these systems, you'll need to contact the relevant UniSA/UoA course coordinators for assistance locating and importing this content. Content missing from the Repository should be manually created new for AU - if importing didn't work for the Repository courses, it won't work for you.

How to access the Temporary Content Repository

The Temporary Content Repository will be accessible to all users working on Part 3 Course Development. To access it, select 'Admin' [1] from the global navigation menu, then 'Temporary Content' [2]. This will take you to the Repository. Here, you'll see a list of all of the courses available for reuse. You can find specific courses using the search bar [3].

What types of UniSA learnonline Moodle content aren't in the Repository/can't be reused?

For further information on which UniSA learnonline content types will/won't be available for reuse, please refer to the table below. These are content types that cannot be imported from Moodle into AU Canvas, so will need to be manually recreated in AU Canvas using equivalent features.

Activity type	Repository status	Note(s)
Assignment	In Repository	Included as Canvas Assignments
Attendance	Not in Repository, no equivalent	Not included - there is no equivalent in AU Canvas (though you can still provide grades for attendance using Canvas Assignments with online submissions disabled)
Book	In Repository	Included as modules with pages
Choice	Not in Repository, no equivalent	Included as ungraded Canvas Classic Quizzes but will not retain the same functionality to the extent that these activities are not recommended for reuse - please consider alternatives
Database	Not in Repository, no equivalent	Not included - there is no equivalent in AU Canvas
Feedback	In Repository, requires repair	Included as ungraded Canvas Classic Quizzes but will not retain the same functionality - you should instead recreate as FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluations
Files and folders	In Repository	Included as files and folders
Forum	In Repository	Included as Canvas Discussions
Glossary	In Repository	Included as pages (some functionality may be lost)
Label	In Repository, requires repair	Included as pages but will not retain the same functionality - you should instead recreate as Text Headers in modules
Lesson	Not in Repository, no equivalent	Not included - there is no equivalent in AU Canvas
Quiz and categories	In Repository, requires repair	Included as Canvas Classic Quizzes and question banks (requires conversion to Canvas New Quizzes), though some question types will break or be missing
Rubric	Not in Repository, can recreate	Not included, but can be recreated using Canvas rubrics
Sections and subsections	In Repository	Included as modules and pages
Survey	In Repository, requires repair	Included as ungraded Canvas Classic Quizzes (requires conversion to Canvas New Quizzes)

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