One of the features in Litmos that helps you save time when building courses is the ability to copy modules that you have previously created and add them into another course.  It’s important to note that when you make a copy you must specify whether you want to ‘Copy’, ‘Link’, or ‘Mirror’ the module being copied.  Below is the explanation of the difference between the options:

• Copy – This means you make a clean copy of the module; it will not be connected in any way to the copied module and acts autonomously for trainee viewing and reporting purposes. To prevent possible unwanted changes in the future, this is probably the preferred and safest method.

• Link – When you choose to ‘Link’, the module you are copying creates a link between the module and the copy and this link cannot be broken. What this means is that for module completion and reporting purposes, the two modules are one and the same. If a student completes the module in one course and a ‘linked’ copy of that module is present in another course they are assigned to, that module will also be marked as complete. In terms of reporting the modules will display in each respective course report, but each only leads to the same set of results.

• Mirror – A mirrored module is a hybrid between copy and link.  The reporting and completion status will work as it does with copying a module, in that the completion status of one module does not affect the one it is mirrored to or from; however, editing the module (uploading new content or editing text) will affect all modules that have been mirrored to or from that module.  This is particularly useful for modules that will have the same content, but reporting will need to be tracked separately. Do keep in mind that certain modules can be mirrored. See the Mirror Modules in Another Course section for more information.

Be mindful of how you set up your course and if in doubt always ‘Copy’ a module rather than using the ‘Link’ function because, as previously mentioned, the link cannot be broken once it has been created.

Help – I Linked my modules and didn’t mean to!  What can I do now?

If you have unintentionally used the ‘Link’ module function instead of ‘Copy’ then you will probably want to fix the problem moving forward so that it will not happen in the future. Unfortunately, you cannot fix what has already been done. What you can do is go into each affected course and delete the ‘linked’ module. Then ‘Copy’ the module back into your course again using the following method:

1. Click on the course

2. Select ‘Add Content’

3. Then choose ‘Browse’ from the course builder

4. Search and select the module to be copied

5. Click ‘Add Modules’

6. In the pop-up window, select ‘Copy’

Note: Marketplace courses purchased from Litmos cannot use these features

Note: Learner Upload and User Checklist module types cannot be Copied, Linked, or Mirrored.

Courses created in Content Author when copied into another course will copy the published SCORM module in its current state into the new course. It does not copy/duplicate the module within the authoring tool as well.