The annual conclusion of Canvas sites for catalog courses will occur the week of August 19, 2024, and will include catalog course sites from Fall 2018 through Summer 2019. For more information about the Course Data Retention Process, please see the Canvas@UD blog post, Course Data Retention Process. This process helps many faculty and students who have seen an increasingly long list of courses in their All Courses list and want them removed.
What does this mean for you and why is it important? Instructors will not be able to access these sites after the conclusion to obtain course content, student submissions, or grading information. You should take the following steps to ensure you have continued access to the course information you may need.
Step 1: Determine which sites will be affected using the term listed in your Courses -> All Courses list (How do I view all my Canvas courses as an instructor?). Most courses should be listed under the Past Enrollments section. For example:
Do not rely on all affected courses being listed under Past Enrollments. You must review the terms for all courses in your courses list in case the default course term dates have been overridden. Any course site classified with a term listed below will be concluded.
| University terms: | English Language Institute (ELI) terms: |
| 2019 Summer 2019 Spring 2019 Spring – Noncredit 2019 Winter 2019 Winter – Noncredit 2018 Fall 2018 Fall – Noncredit |
2019 – ELI Session 6 2019 – ELI Session 5 2019 – ELI Session 4 2019 – ELI Session 3 2018 – ELI Session 2 2018 – ELI Session 1 |
Both published and unpublished sites will be concluded.
Step 2: Export course content you may need by either exporting the entire course or by downloading files or downloading folders from course Files to store on your own device or other storage space.
Step 3: Download student assignment submissions, if needed, for any online submission assignments to store on your own device or other storage space. Students submissions may be downloaded in bulk. Individual student file-upload assignment submissions may be downloaded individually using SpeedGrader. For Classic Quizzes, download quiz statistics analysis reports if needed.
Step 4: Review and export your course gradebook, if needed, to download a CSV file of your final grades to store on your own device or other storage space.
If you download any student data, please consult UD policies for encrypting devices and data for policies regarding sensitive information.
If a course needs to be retained beyond the five years, the instructor-of-record, department chair, or dean must submit a request using the Canvas – Request to Retain Course Access Beyond Deadline form. If you have previously requested to retain a course older than 2018 Fall, you must submit this form again to avoid its conclusion this year.
If you have any questions about the retention policy or your courses, IT-Academic Technology Services staff is always available at the IT-ATS Welcome Bar or you can send your questions to canvas-info@udel.edu.
