How do I create and manage course templates and their clones?

OVERVIEW
After you create your desired course, you may want to use it to create and update new courses. Templates let you do that. With one click, template cloning will copy the selected template and create a new course with the same elements, content, and settings, excluding step notifications and step visibility settings. Optionally you can also clone (copy) editors, instructors, and supporters, and it is important to note that templates cannot have course participants.

Templates differ from regular course cloning in that Templates also allow you to link content. That means that updating any content blocks in the template will update the blocks in this clone. Also, if you add a step to a template, it will be added to any clone. If you remove a step from a template it will be removed from any cloned copies.

CREATE TEMPLATE
To create a Template, first, navigate to Builder, select the desired course and click the Edit Course button. Then go to the Customize tab, check the Templates box, scroll down, and hit Save.

CREATE TEMPLATE CLONE

1. Select the desired template from Builder and click on the Clone Course icon
2. Enter the name for the course and select the group where you would like to place the clone 
3. Should you want to copy editors/instructors/ supporters from the template, check the corresponding boxes (Copy editors/Copy instructors/ Copy supporters)
4. It is important to set/un-set content linking. If you check the Link content box, template content changes will be reflected in the clone
5. After choosing the desired settings, click the CLONE COURSE button

After the clone is created you will be automatically navigated to its edit course page. If you would like to view the clone's template, simply click on the button shown in the screenshot below.

You can also view what all the clones are from a template by clicking on the template icon.

CONTENT LINKING

In the template, you can mark content blocks as linked or editable (unlinked).

• • Linked Content Blocks:

    • Any changes you make to them in the template will automatically appear in all clones after you publish them. They are not editable in the course clones, as they are linked.

    • If you add a new block to a template, it will be added to the course clones where content linked to the template is checked.
    • If you remove a block from a template that is marked as “linked”, it will be removed from all the course clones.
    • You can unlink a content block in the template, which will make it editable in all course clones. In any clone, you can also unlink any block so that you can edit it, and it will no longer receive updates from the template.
    • For any blocks that are unlinked, you can click the content linking icon on that block to re-link it. Its content will be overwritten from the template.
  • Editable (unlinked) Content Blocks:

    • You can make any changes to “editable” (un-linked) content blocks in the template, and they will not affect the course clones.

• You can also make any changes to editable content blocks in the course clones
• You can add/update/remove content blocks in the course clones, and it will not affect the template (with the exception of any “linked” content blocks, which are not editable in the course clones)

Also, you can unlink or re-link an entire clone at once. If you navigate to the Customize tab in a clone and uncheck the 'Content Linked to Template' box, it will no longer receive any updates from the template. If you check that box to link it, it will begin to receive any updates from the template again. Any existing content will not be replaced until there is an update from the template.