Retaining Course Content | Technical Assistance |

Learning Management System Course Retention Guidelines

All 2020 Blackboard courses (Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020) will be deleted on March 15, 2024
A note about Canvas: If you plan to download your 2020 Blackboard courses before they are deleted, export and archive files can be imported into Canvas via manual migration.

In an effort to provide faculty and students with adequate access to past course sites and information contained in the campus-sponsored learning management system (LMS) for reference, copying, and contesting grades while maintaining a stable LMS infrastructure (performance, storage, and bandwidth), below are guidelines that will govern the retention of course sites.

“Course sites” refer to the space in which materials are hosted on the LMS. Course materials include files uploaded by faculty and or students that have access to the site, assignments submitted by students, and grade book data.

Course sites will be retained in the system for two full years, and then will be permanently deleted. Faculty will receive an email one month before each deletion.

Content stored in other campus resources (i.e. Kaltura, Zoom) is often linked to from within the LMS. These tools may have their own retention policies and therefore the ability to access these materials is independent of these guidelines.

Permanent Courses, Sandbox Courses, and Organizations will not be deleted.

Retaining Course Content

Please note that it is the responsibility of the faculty member to archive and/or copy their course site. Faculty who would like to retain a copy of their course site(s) prior to deletion have several options:

  1. Local Export/Archive
    Course sites and/or grades can be downloaded and stored on a personally managed storage device (e.g., computer, approved cloud storage, etc.) for future reference by the faculty member. See instructions on how to create an export or archive of your course or gradebook.
  2. Course Copy
    Each semester a new course site is created for courses being offered. Faculty can opt to copy content from a previously developed course site to a newer course site. See instructions on how to create a copy of your course.

Technical Assistance

For technical assistance with course copy or archiving, or to determine when courses will be deleted, contact the ITS Support Center.

Last modified: June 26, 2024