Exporting or Archiving Your Blackboard Course (Faculty)

Problem

At the end of the semester, you may wish to save a copy of your Blackboard course for your own records. The University will archive courses periodically, but saving your own copy will ensure that you have a backup whenever you need it.

Blackboard offers instructors two options to back up a course: 

  • Export: This is a partial replica of the course. It contains all of the course structure, assignments and activities, but does not contain any student work. This is recommended if you would like to be able to reuse course content from semester to semester. Instructors can import their exported course content into an existing course shell at any time.
  • Archive: This is a complete replica of the course, including student work, content, assignments, activities and grades. If you need to restore this archive in Blackboard to view at a later date, you will need to submit a ticket to MyIT for assistance.

The steps to Export or Archive a course are outlined below.

Environment

Blackboard (Faculty)

Resolution

1. Log into Blackboard and access the course you wish to export or archive

2. In the Course Management panel on the lower left, select Packages and Utilities, then Export/Archive Course.

3. In the next window, select the option to Export Package or Archive Course, depending on the type of backup you wish to have. You can click each of them if you would like one of each type of backup.

Red box surrounding Export Package and Archive Course buttons

4. If you have chosen to Archive the course, you can decide whether you want to include the Grade Center History in the archive file. If so, check this box and click Submit. You can leave all of the other settings with their default options.

Include Grade Center History Option with red arrow pointing to box on the left

If you have chosen to Export the course, leave the File Attachments section with the default settings. Under Select Course Materials, choose the items you would like to include in your export or click Select All to export all items and settings. Scroll down to the bottom and click Submit. 

Select Course Materials section with red box surrounding Select All button

5. Blackboard will process your request to export or archive your course. You will receive an email in your USJ email account when the process is complete. Please note that this process can take some time, especially if your course is very large.

6. To download your file, return to your course and go to Packages and Utilities > Export Archive Course.

7. You will now see a link to download a zipped folder that contains your export or archive. Click on the link to download the file to your computer. The backup will be a ZIP file - do not unzip it. Save this file in a safe place, such as your OneDrive.

Red box surrounding file name under Export/Archive course

Cause

A few notes about Exporting and Archiving Courses

  • If you have a very large course, please note that you may encounter some difficulty with exporting, archiving or downloading the course. Many courses have unused, unlinked content sitting in the background that can be deleted easily. If you are having difficulty archiving or exporting your course, please submit a ticket to MyIT for assistance.
  • This process can also be used to archive organizations. Please note, however, that a course can only be imported into another course, and an organization can only be imported into another organization.
  • If you are looking for a specific file within your backup, you will need to import or restore the course into Blackboard first. If you attempt to extract the files from the ZIP file, they will be buried deep in a complex filing structure that makes no visual sense from the user’s perspective. If you need to backup specific files from your course, please submit a ticket to MyIT for assistance.
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