Blackboard Course Site Retention Policy
Policy Description
Purpose of Policy:
This policy defines the duration of course availability and course data on the Blackboard Learning System and the course deletion schedule.
Policy Summary:
All courses on the Blackboard Learning System are available to faculty assigned to teach and students enrolled in the course for one semester prior to the course running and three semesters after the course has completed.
The removal of courses from the Blackboard Learning System is necessary to maintain a manageable database size to ensure speed and performance of the systems as well as a cost containment measure in the amount of storage needed.
Examples: A Blackboard course site created in Fall 2008 will be deleted in Spring 2010. A Blackboard course site created in Spring 2009 will be deleted in Summer 2010. A Blackboard course site created in Summer 2009 will be deleted in Fall 2010.
| Term Course Offered |
Date Courses Removed |
Fall 2008
|
Feb. 15, 2010
|
Spring 2009
|
May 30, 2010
|
Summer 2009
|
Oct. 15, 2010
|
Fall 2009
|
Feb. 15, 2011
|
Spring 2010
|
May 30, 2011
|
Summer 2010
|
Oct. 15, 2011
|
Fall 2010
|
Feb. 15, 2012
|
Spring 2011
|
May 30, 2012
|
Summer 2011
|
Oct. 15, 2012
|
Fall 2011
|
Feb. 15, 2013
|
Spring 2012
|
May 30, 2013
|
Summer 2012
|
Oct. 15, 2013
|
Fall 2012
|
Feb. 15, 2014
|
Spring 2013
|
May 30, 2014
|
Summer 2013
|
Oct. 15, 2014
| What gets deleted from a Blackboard Course Site?
Deleting a Blackboard course site permanently removes it from the Blackboard system so that it is no longer accessible. When a Blackboard course site is deleted it is automatically removed from a user’s course list.
All materials stored in the Blackboard course site are deleted. This includes all files, grades, assignments, quizzes, surveys, links and anything else associated with the course site.
How Do I Retain a Copy of the Content Before the Course is Deleted?
- Instructors can copy materials from older courses into newer courses.
- View the instructions to copy the content from one course to another.
- The TLT Center recommends that you choose to copy pieces of the source course to be copied to the new course to avoid copying student specific data like grades or discussion posts
- Instructors can backup their materials outside of Blackboard.
- Instructors can archive or export a course feature from the course management area and save a backup of the course to their local PC or burn the content to CD or DVD for portability. View the instruction details for creating an archive package which creates a permanent record of a course, including all the content and student information such as grades and discussion board posts. View the instruction details for creating an export package which can be later restored to the system. Please note that you cannot interact with an archived course package, to view or copy any material the course must be restored to the Blackboard Learning System.
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