Backup Your Blackboard Course                                Back

Part of the on-going maintenance of the UST Blackboard system is the removal of old
courses. Courses will be available in Blackboard through the same term of the following
year. For example, Spring 2006 courses will be available until the end of Spring
semester 2007. Removal of old courses will take place in January and June each year.

If instructors wish to have access to old Blackboard Courses which are no longer on the
server, they need to create a local backup file. Blackboard has two options that allow you
to save a copy of a course on your computer; Archive Course and Export Course.
Archived and Exported packages are downloaded as compressed .ZIP files to the
instructor’s computer hard drive. Content can be imported from a .ZIP package into
another Blackboard course, thus allowing access to the course content after the course is
no longer accessible in the Blackboard Learning System.

Best Practice Recommendation at UST

• IRT recommends that you archive your courses at the end of each term. Archive
  creates a full backup of the course. It only takes a few minutes to archive a course which
  has taken months to develop.
• IRT recommends that you also export a course if you intend to reuse the content in
  another course in the future. The Import Package function allows you to access this
  content from the local backup .ZIP file that is created.

Archive Course

The Archive Course function enables the Instructor to make a complete record of a
course, including all of the user information. This is useful if there is ever a need to
recreate a course exactly as it was. In that case, the instructor would need to contact his
Academic Technology Consultant to have the archive file sent to the Blackboard System
Administrator to be restored. If an instructor forgot to archive the course and needs it
fully restored, it is available on a system backup, but it will take at least 2 weeks for the
course to be recreated. IRT will only do this when it is necessary to recover grade-related
student information.

Export Course

The Export function allows an instructor to first select course content then puts it in a
package that can be used in another course at a later date. An instructor can choose one or
more course areas to include in the package. No user information can be exported. The
Import Package feature can then be used to copy this content into a new course.

Import Package

The Import Package function brings content contained in .ZIP packages into a new
Blackboard course in the same form and layout. Starting in the new course, an instructor
selects specific content from the .ZIP file to import. Although some instructors have used
course copy to perform this function, exporting then importing is a better option because
it assures that content will be available even after the course is no longer in the
Blackboard system. This is an effective way to create a “master” template of a course.

Note: Do not unzip a package or remove files from the package, otherwise the package
will not be imported correctly. Importing a package does not destroy it; it can be reused
repeatedly.

How to Archive or Export a course

• In the course, go into the Control Panel.
• In the Course Options area, click on the link to Export Course or Archive Course, and to access the Export/Archive Manager 
• Once in the Export/Archive Manager, click on the Export or Archive button.
• Export will give you the list of contents to choose before saving.
• The saved package will be named ArchiveFile or ExportFile and the course name.
• Once submitted, the export or archive request will be queued, and an email will be sent when the process is complete. Once you receive the e-mail, go back into the Export/Archive Manager and save the file to your computer. The file will be saved as a .ZIP folder in the location that you specify.
• NOTE: Each export/archive package counts against the course quota; so keeping packages on this page may result in limited space to add additional content to the course.  It is recommended that you remove exported/archived packages from the course once you have saved the package to your computer.

How to Import a Package

• In the destination course Control Panel, choose Import Package.
• Browse to the package on your computer (.ZIP file of source course).
• Select the content to import.
• Click on Submit.
• It will take a few minutes to upload the content.
• Be sure to click the Refresh button (below the Control Panel button) in the course.
  in order to see the content areas that have loaded.

Benefits of These Features

An instructor may not be teaching the same course again for two years. Archiving or
exporting allows the instructor to have the course content available when it is no longer
in the Blackboard Learning System. The content from the .ZIP file on his computer hard
drive can be imported into the new course and save the time of reloading each item.

An instructor can build a “master” course template by exporting the content created
during a semester then importing it into a section (or sections) of the same course the next
time he or she teaches it. The instructor can add or modify content during the new term,
export the course again and repeat that process each term as the course becomes more
fully developed. Although some instructors have used course copy to perform this
function, exporting is a better option because it assures that content will be available
beyond the time limit for a course on the Blackboard system.

The exported .ZIP file of a course can be shared among instructors who are teaching
different sections of the same course, allowing them to benefit from using the same
content. Once the master course is created, it can be exported. Then the .ZIP file can be
distributed to each instructor, who can easily import the package into his own section.