This article covers the essential functions of performing a course backup, restore, or reset.
TOPICS
In using Lambda Learn, you will often need to either backup, reset, or restore a course. Backing up a course, saving some or all of its parts, ensures that your data and content is kept safe. Course reset allows you to start a course fresh: the user data is wiped clean, while all activities and settings are retained. Finally, you are also able to restore a course from a previous, saved course backup.
The backup and restore processes can offer the course creators and administrators many creative solutions.
- Duplicating courses or specific activities in one course to another course (similar to Import)
- Updating a PRODUCTION site course, with material from a STAGING site course
- Creating a blank activity, save just that activity and then restore it to the course or another course one or more times.
CREATE A COURSE BACKUP
A course can be saved with some or all of its parts by using the course backup function. Typically, the site administrator will set a schedule of automated course backups for the whole site.
- Go into the course.
- Click the Backup link either in the gear menu or the Administration block.
- Backup settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button.
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- Users with appropriate permissions, such as administrators and managers, can choose whether to include users, anonymize user information, or include user role assignments, groups, groupings, user files, comments, user completion details, course logs and grade history in the backup.
- Schema settings - Select/deselect specific items to include in backup, then click the Next button.
- If desired, select specific types of activity to be backed up by clicking the link 'Show type options'.
- Confirmation and review - Check that everything is as required, using the Previous button if necessary, otherwise click the 'Perform backup' button.
- Complete - Click the Continue button.
A backup file (with distinctive .mbz extension to avoid confusion with .zip files) is then saved in the course backup area. Backup file names are of the form backup-course-coursename-date-hour.mbz, ending in -nu.mbz when backed up with no users and -an.mbz with anonymized names.
Anonymize User Information
Anonymizing user information is a backup feature which "protects user identities" by making each user anonymous. If this box is checked in the backup initial settings, Lambda Learn will substitute aliases for real names, substituting @example.com e-mail addresses and so forth. For example "Max Manager" might become "anonfirstname4 anonlastname4".
CREATE A COURSE COPY
Administrators, managers and those with the relevant capabilities can quickly copy courses from a course category or within a course.
- From Site administration / Courses / Manage courses and categories, click to select a category.
- Find the course you want to copy, and click the duplicate icon to copy the course.
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As well as setting the course name, category, visibility and dates, you can make the following selections:
- Include user data - Similar to in a course backup, you can decide whether or not to include the data of any users with the roles in your course who will be included in the next setting.
- Include role enrolments - If you select a role here then users with that role will be enrolled into the copied course, either with or without their user data, depending on the previous setting.
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- Once you have configured the settings of your course copy click on the Copy button that suites your next step. That's it.
RESTORE A COURSE FROM A BACKUP
A course backup file (.mbz) may be restored from within any existing course for which you have permission. During the restore process, you will be given the option to restore as a new course or into an existing course.
Restoring from Course and Category Management Screen
Users with permission to access Site administration > Courses > Manage courses and categories or Site administration > Courses > Manage courses and categories > (Category name) can restore courses from here.
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- On the Restore course page that appears, you can import or upload a backup file or choose a file in the Course backup area or User private backup area and click the Restore button.
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- The restore process will step you through a 7 step process: Confirm, Destination, Settings, Schema, Review, Process, and Complete.
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- Confirm - Check that everything is as required then click the Continue button.
- Destination - Choose whether the course should be restored as a new course or into an existing course then click the Continue button.
- Settings - Select activities, blocks, filters and possibly other items as required then click the Next button.
- Schema - Select/deselect specific items and amend the course name, short name and start date if necessary then click the Next button.
- Review - Check that everything is as required, using the Previous button if necessary, then click the 'Perform restore' button.
- Complete - Click the continue button
RESET A COURSE
This allows you to empty a course of user data, while retaining the activities and other settings.
You can select which user data to remove at a granular level under the categories of General, Roles, Gradebook, Groups and Activity data (see below).
Only users with the reset course capability (by default managers and teachers) can reset a course.
To reset a course,
- Log in and go to the course area you want to reset
- Resetting a given activity is irreversible, so ensure that you have taken a Backup of your area including the user data - this is a snapshot and can be reinstated if necessary
- In your area's Administration block, click on Reset
- Click any Show Advanced button to show all options for that category
- Make your selections based on the options (see below for more on these)
- Click the Reset button
- Return to your area and check that things are as you want them.