How to archive and recycle your course

As we are approaching the end of the academic year, please consider when you plan to archive and recycle your Blackboard courses.

It is the responsibility of course lecturers to archive (save a copy of) their course, or arrange for a departmental administrator to do this for them. Archiving  ensures that important information is available if needed for subsequent appeals or in the event of accidental deletion during the recycle process. Recycling ensures that old or out of date information is removed from courses before the start of the new academic year (this can include students).

The key steps are outlined below, please be aware that if you co-teach on a Blackboard course then you might wish to discuss the procedure with your colleagues before commencing.

Step 1: Archive the course

Background

This will allow you to save an exact copy of the course as a zip file on your local intranet / computer. If you ever need to see this course you’ll need to contact bb-help@bristol.ac.uk or your local Blackboard Administrator.

Instructions

1. Enter the course Control Panel
2. Click on Archive Course (bottom left corner)
3. Follow onscreen instructions

Step 2: Recycle the course

Background

This will allow you to remove parts of the course in preparation for the start of a new course, i.e., remove all your announcements, remove users (students), clear discussion boards. Please note, that the recycle process can not be reversed, once you’ve deleted it, it has gone. Therefore, please archive the course beforehand.

Instructions

1. Enter the course Control Panel
2. Click on Recycle Course
3. Follow onscreen instructions

Please note – if you decide to remove (recycle) course content then it will remove the folder structure as well as the documents !

If you have Turnitin submission points in your course removing them may prevent you from being able to view submissions and originality reports. Please email bb-help@bristol.ac.uk for more advice.

Step 3: 1-2-1 course review

Why not contact bb-help@bristol.ac.uk to request a 1-2-1 course review. This will give you the opportunity to discuss with a member of the e-Learning Team how you might use Blackboard to further support your teaching.