The first annual conclusion of Canvas sites for catalog courses will occur the week of August 22, 2022, and will include catalog course sites from 2012 when our Canvas instance was created through Summer 2017. For more information about the Course Data Retention Process, please see the Canvas@UD blog post, Course Data Retention Process. This new process will help 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 classified with a term 2017 Summer or earlier will be concluded. Please see the list of course terms scheduled for inclusion in the August, 2022, conclusion. Both published and unpublished sites will be concluded.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 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.
