Purging is the process of permanently removing courses and content from the LMS to properly manage storage resources and ensure adequate system performance. A purged course is removed from the LMS and cannot be restored. Course owners should export/archive courses and download grade center data to preserve content and records using the steps shown below. Access to all content and by all users is permanently removed once a course is purged.
Purged courses will no longer be available in the LMS.
Course Purge Schedule
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) purges courses once annually, typically during the University's December holiday closure. Exact dates of the purge activity may vary and will be announced each year. In all cases, no course will be removed from Blackboard until a period of one year, plus one (or more) additional semester has passed from its end date has passed.
- Fall Semester Courses: Courses occurring during the Fall semester (August-December) of a given year (e.g. 2018) will be purged in December two years hence (e.g. 2020)
- Spring Semester Courses: Courses occurring during the Spring semester (January-May) of a given year (e.g. 2018) will be purged in December of the following year (e.g. 2019)
- Summer Semester Courses: Course occurring during the Summer semester (June-August) of a given year (e.g. 2018) will be purged in December of the following year (e.g. 2019)
Prior to the Annual Course Purge:
Course owners should export/archive courses and download grade center data to preserve content and records. Those articles can be found by clicking the linked text or in the Related Articles section to the right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. My course is scheduled to be purged with the next purge cycle. Can I make a request to keep the course?
A1. If a special purpose shell is scheduled to be purged, listed owners will be notified separately and given the opportunity to request that the shell be kept. All other standard teaching shells which follow the normal purge cycle cannot be retained. An exported zip file can be made which allows course content to be saved.
Q2. I would still rather opt to preserve the actual course rather than an archive file. What can be done?
A2. Once you have saved the exported zip file of a course that is scheduled to be purged (as outlined above), that content can be imported into any existing course shell that you have instructor privileges for. Refer to the Blackboard: Importing a Course Package tutorial for additional information.