How can I Import previous Group pages to a new module (Capstone projects)

[paul_fynn]

We have a highly evolved approach to our Capstone Projects and Dissertations which have one convenor/leader and up to 50 supervisors.

Whilst the Capstone leader is responsible for maintaining the content, individual students are assigned to individual supervisors. In order to manage this

1. all supervisors are added to the Canvas course as teachers
2. a single group set is created for "Supervisor Groups" 
   1. each group is named after a Supervisor
   2. a maximum quota of students is added to each group per supervisor
   3. each student is assigned to one supervisor
3. To overcome the (more than frustrating) absence of a group homepage (the default is a discussions view)
   1. The capstone leader sets up a structured group page for each supervisor, including research interests, projects available, project resources
   2. The group pages are individually linked to the Canvas course home/front page
   3. Students who access the group are via the home page links land in a Canvas page, rather than a discussion thread / activity stream, and can navigate from there to group discussions

We have one Capstone leader who has used this extensively, and has attractive, functional pages for each supervisor, enjoyed by students. Our problem is that each academic year they have to create these landing pages from scratch. 

• I am seeking suggestions on the following fronts

A. Can anyone suggest a way to change the Group landing location to a Canvas page rather than a discussion thread or activity stream ?

B. Can anyone found a way to bulk create Group pages for each Group?

C. Can anyone identify a way in which we might import Group pages created in a previous delivery to a current delivery ?

So far we haven't found anything in the API calls that might facilitate this, so I'm hoping that someone may have, or be able to suggest, a solution.

Thanks in advance !!

[ryan_corris]

Hey @paul_fynn!

A.  Everything I am finding or experiencing shows that you are unable to change the Group Homepages from the default setting.

B. Again, nothing I am finding or experiencing shows that there is a possibility to bulk create or import group pages.

C. Here is one thing that I have found that seems to work, but has a few more steps than just importing something. Create the page(s) you want to add to each group in the course with the groups.  This should help to make sure any images or course links that have been added to the page have been added or linked to course content in the specific course you are working on.   Once the page is completed, copy the HTML for the page.  Go into each group, create a new page, then paste the HTML from the original page into each group page.  Make any minor adjustments to the page for each group if necessary. (It is possible to just coy and paste everything from the basic editing window of the page, but I have found that I have more success and accuracy when I copy and paste the HTML.)

Not an optimal way to be able to do what you need, but could speed things up depending on how you are doing this currently.

Hopefully others will chime in with some even better ideas.

Good luck!

[paul_fynn]

Just to note @ryan_corris that a screen to screen (rather than html to html copy) can produce simmering effects in the rendered page.

Many thanks for the tips above - I think we're already past the point of 'make the manual process more efficient' but hopefully it'll trigger some more responses from our practiced community peers.