Canvas Course Retention Policy and Course Archival Methods
The following guide details how long courses will be maintained in the NCSSM Canvas instance, when they will be deleted, and how a teacher can archive a course they wish to save for future use.
Courses older than 2019 to be deleted
In response to the operational needs to clean up and organize our Canvas environment, the following course management procedures have been established:
Following the 2024-2025 school year, all courses that are older than the year 2019 will be deleted from Canvas. This action is not due to storage cost concerns but is aimed at decluttering the platform.
Courses older than 2019 will be deleted on <DATE>.
Course Retention Policy
Previously-taught courses will be retained on Canvas for a period of five years. This duration has been chosen to ensure that students and faculty have sufficient access to recent course data and resources without creating a burden for usability and administration.
Active and Visible Courses
Users will have immediate access to courses from the current academic year and the preceding year directly from their Canvas dashboard or courses menu.
If a teacher wishes to maintain access to the content of a course, it is important that they back-up the course during the two years they have access to the course.
Archived Courses
An Archive Term will be established to store courses from the third, fourth, and fifth preceding years. These courses will not be visible to teachers or students but will be retrievable by administrators if needed for compliance, accreditation, or other critical needs.
Annual Course Deletion
At the beginning of each academic year, the oldest year stored within the Archive Term will be permanently deleted from Canvas. This systematic cleanup ensures the system remains updated without accumulating unnecessary data.
Course Retention Schedule
| Current Year’s Courses | Previous Year’s Courses | 3 Years Old Courses | 4 Years Old Courses | 5 Years Old Courses | Courses Older than 5 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Users Have Easy Access | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Archived by ITS and Retrievable | N.A. | N.A. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Backing Up Canvas Courses
For courses that may be taught again in the future, it is important that you back up each course prior to its archival or deletion from Canvas.
There are two methods you can use to back up a course:
Add the course to Canvas Commons - this is especially useful if you wish to make the course available to other users at NCSSM.
Export the Course as a Canvas Course Zip file - this is useful if you prefer to store a copy of the course yourself in your own Google Drive account or elsewhere.
Each method is detailed below:
Add a Course to Canvas Commons
When you add a course to Canvas Commons, you will have the option to share it only with yourself, with NCSSM, or with the rest of the world.
Once you have added courses to the Commons, you can view all the courses you have imported and can import courses into empty course shells from the Commons if you need to teach the course again in the future.
Export a Course as a Canvas Course Zip File
Canvas allows you to export each of your courses as a zip file. These files can then be used to import the course back into an empty course shell in the future if needed. However, it is your responsibility to safeguard these files from loss. We recommend uploading them to Google Drive and keeping more than one copy of each.
Video Tutorial: Backing up and Restoring Canvas Courses
The following 3 minute video shows how to backup and restore a course using the download methid and the Canvas Commons method.