-
Course Builder 1.11
- Meet Course Builder
- Set Up Course Builder
- Create a Course
- Customize Course Style
- Debug Course
- Prepare for Students
- Publish a Course
- Analyze Data
- Administer Site
-
Upgrade Course Builder
- Download App Data
- Set Up and Deploy New Version
- Upload App Data
- For Course Builder Developers
- Feature List
- Release Notes
Download App Data
Course Builder has two types of data that is uses: course and datastore. Course data is data that represents the course itself, like HTML and CSS files, while datastore data revolves around the student interactions with your course.
You can back up both course and datastore data by downloading them using the ETL command or through the Developers Console. We suggest using the Developers Console because it is easier but both ways are illustrated in this page.
Course Data
When you download course data, you are saving the structure and content of the course on your site. Examples of course data include:
- Units — course unit information like ID, type, title, release date, and availability
- Lessons — information about each lesson, such as the video’s URL and the lesson’s title
- Assets — course CSS files, images, activities, assessments, and libraries
Datastore Data
When you download datastore data, you get data about students. By default, you also get data about student events. Examples include:
- EventEntity — system level events and historical data about each activity or assessment completed.
- Student — information about students, their enrollment status and assessment scores
- StudentAnswersEntity — the most recent detailed answers given by a student for each assessment
Recording student event data is enabled by default, but it can be disabled to save time and potential costs. Learn more about time and costs.
Use the Developers Console
Back up your datastore data using the Developers Console.
Before you can back up to the datastore, you need to set up a Cloud Storage Bucket in which to back up your data. Learn how to set up a Cloud Storage Bucket.
- Go to the Developers Console
- Click Datastore from the main menu.
- Click Admin from the menu.
- Click Open Datastore Admin.
- Select Entity Kind to back up all datastore data.
- Type a name for your backup.
- Choose whether you want to back up datastore data for the entire Google App Engine instance on which Course Builder is on or one particular course. You will also need to choose a Cloud Storage Bucket for your backed-up data.
After a wait (duration depends on amount of data), you’ll see your backup at the bottom of the page.
Download App Data with ETL
The most common reason to download app data is to be able restore it another Google App Engine instance running Course Builder. You download course data and datastore data separately.
Download Course Data
The following command downloads your course data.
sh scripts/etl.sh download course <course_url_prefix> <app_server_name> --archive_path <archive_path>
It is best to use this command from the root of your Course Builder installation.
cd /Users/sammich/coursebuilder
sh scripts/etl.sh download course /physics zabaione.appspot.com --archive_path ./physics-course.zip
In the above example, you’d download course data only for the “physics” course. You’d
run this command for each course for which you want to download course data. If you
want to download a course on the root URL, you would just specify the slash
/
instead of slash with name (/physics
).
Do Not Edit Downloaded Data
You can view and make copies of data exported from Course Builder, but you must upload the unmodified file back into Course Builder when you restore the data to the upgraded version. Modifying the data may cause an immediate upload error or (even worse) pass uploading and create downstream errors that are difficult to troubleshoot. If you modify it, however, don’t upload it back to your Course Builder app.
Download Datastore Information
Downloading datastore data uses a similar command:
sh scripts/etl.sh download datastore <course_url_prefix> <app_server_name> --archive_path <archive_path> --datastore_types <model1,model2>
Again, it is best to use this command from the root of your Course Builder installation. Here is an example of downloading datastore data using ETL:
cd /Users/sammich/coursebuilder
sh scripts/etl.sh download datastore /poetry bbq.appspot.com --archive_path ./poetry.zip --datastore_types Student,StudentAnswersEntity
The first line makes the current directory the Course Builder root directory (in this
example, /Users/sammich/coursebuilder
). The second line finds the course
data for the course and downloads it as a file named physics.zip
in the
current directory. It also uses the --datastore_types
option to specify
which models to download. If you do not include this option, the command will default
to downloading everything:
cd /Users/sammich/coursebuilder
sh scripts/etl.sh download datastore /poetry bbq.appspot.com --archive_path ./poetry-datastore.zip
Consider time and costs
Downloading data (whether to upgrade or for other reasons) will count against your site’s quota and may incur costs. Keep this in mind, especially when downloading datastore data. The amount of datastore data depends on the number of students enrolled, and for courses with high enrollment (tens of thousands), the file can be quite large and the download command can take hours to run.
Learn how to disable student analytics to reduce your resource usage.