To purge a D2L course refers to the complete removal and deletion of that course with no way of restoring it. To purge a D2L course is to permanently delete it. This includes all files and student records.
This site uses the term “course cleanup,” or simply “cleanup” for the purging process.
The Learn@UW/D2L site administrator and/or learning technology support team at each campus will relay information in regards to which semesters of courses are scheduled to be purged. Instructors can view their courses in the My Courses widget of D2L Home. Courses are identified by semester and year (it might be necessary to click on the Plus icon to the left of a semester to expand and display the list of courses in that semester). All courses listed on a semester slated for deletion will be deleted if no action is taken. Instructors should contact their site administrator or learning technology support team if they have any questions on what is going to be deleted.
We do not delete relatively recent courses primarily because:
- Students need sufficient time to finish incomplete courses and challenge grades, and
- Instructors need sufficient time to re-offer their course.
Retaining recent courses is consistent with the guidelines and policies of the UW System Records Officers Council.
In most cases, when a course is re-offered by the same instructor, the instructor copies some or all of the contents, files, gradebook and discussion structure from a previous offering into the new offering. Once that copy process is complete, the earlier version of the course offering can be deleted without affecting the new course offering.
If a course does not repeat for several years, steps must be taken to ensure the original course offering is not deleted. Instructors in this situation should discuss this with their campus Learn@UW/D2L support team.
The D2L gradebook can be exported to a CSV file that can be opened with Excel and other applications.
When downloading or saving gradebooks or student submissions, it is important to maintain the privacy of those student records. They should be saved on campus-housed, password protected network storage rather than on local hard drives.
Questions about how long gradebooks and student records may be retained should be forwarded to your campus Records Officer.
Content, course files and quizzes can be copied into a newer offering of the same course. This is very common, especially when the same instructor teaches both offerings.
Also, course files can be easily downloaded. Instructors with unusual situations should contact their institution’s Learn@UW/D2L support.
The course cleanup process is imperative to ensure the ongoing smooth operation and maintenance of Learn@UW/D2L. The volume of data housed in the system, and the associated storage costs, has steadily increased since the deployment of D2L in 2003. The quantity of data not only impacts storage costs, but also the cost of data backups, system upgrades, and support resources. Being good stewards of data storage also lessens the potential of negative impact on system performance and improves your user experience as system growth continues.
Instructors can export their content files, gradebook and student files from a drop box folder and retain them locally.
Your courses will be permanently deleted on schedule. In most cases, you will not need these courses and do not need to take any action.