The short story is:

If you want activations to see the changes, EDIT. If you don't, DUPLICATE.

As an author, you can make edits to a course with activations. If you republish, those changes will flow out to all current and scheduled activations based on that course. This includes courses in other environments if you've licensed that course.

Note: Changes to course attributes (overview, study plan, trailer video etc.) rather than content within pages, don't flow out to activations. This is because they can be changed when you set up an activation, and we don't want to override that. To update these sections check out how to update an activation.

If you're after more detail, see Editing and republishing a tasks course.

When you duplicate a course, you create a completely new rootContentId, to iQualify, this means an entirely separate course. Your original and the copy are uncoupled. All activations still "point back" to the original course, so aren't affected by any changes to the copy. Those activations don't even know the copy exists.

So, if you’re wanting a new fresh copy of the course and don’t want changes made to be passed on to existing learners or to environments who are using this course - Duplicate.

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