What is the BOLT Course Purge and why is it happening?
In order to reduce our footprint with regards to integration, and to be in accordance with our retention policies, we will be initiating a data purge in BOLT starting this November, 2021. We will start with our oldest semesters, and proceed monthly, to purge years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. This will remove courses of those years from BOLT!
Here is the schedule:
| Semesters to be Purged | Last Day to Export Your Courses by: |
|---|---|
| 2012 Spring, 2012 Summer, 2012 Fall | November 12, 2021 |
| 2013 Spring, 2013 Summer, 2013 Fall | December 10, 2021 |
| 2014 Spring, 2014 Summer, 2014 Fall, 2014 Winter | January 21, 2022 |
| 2015 Spring, 2015 Summer, 2015 Fall, 2015 Winter | February 18, 2022 |
| 2016 Spring, 2016 Summer, 2016 Fall, 2016 Winter | March 18, 2022 |
Export any course materials you want to save from these semesters’ courses by the date listed here. Anything in courses after that date will be subject to purge and lost forever.
Again, export your course materials by the dates listed above. Otherwise you will lose anything you do not export.
Starting with year 2017, we will be following a semester purge schedule where the semester 5 years prior is purged the 3rd week of the month the current semester ends. Here is that tentative schedule:
- 2017 Spring: May 27, 2022
- 2017 Summer: August 26, 2022
- 2017 Fall: December 16, 2022
- 2017 Winter: January 27, 2023
- 2018 Spring: May 26, 2023
- 2018 Summer: August 25, 2023
Please note: you should be exporting any courses you want to save for your own records. This is easy to do in BOLT (Brightspace), using the Import/Export/Copy Components feature in your Course Admin panel.
There are directions on how to Export at https://bloomuimdc.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/35000083438-how-can-i-export-a-course-from-bolt-
Each course export will result in a zip file with a name like “D2LExport_CourseIDNumber_CourseName_datetime.zip”. Save these to your own storage location where you will remember you archived them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions you may have about this with answers.
If I don’t export my course, will I be able to get to it after the purge date?
No. Anything not exported by the indicated purge date will be lost forever. There will be no way to “restore” it. We will only have data files from the purge which we can check for things related to accreditation, audits, etc.
Can you export my courses for me? I want …..
No. You must export your own courses. We can show how to export courses, or you can stop by the IMD Center for assistance from our staff, but we will not export courses for anyone unless an extreme technical difficulty occurs.
Can you restore my courses after the purge date?
No, we cannot restore anything we purged after the purge date. It is gone from BOLT forever after the purge date.
Will the purge affect my current courses or my user account?
No, it will not affect current courses. It will not affect your user account, but it will reduce the number of semesters you can see and access in BOLT.
If I miss exporting my course by the deadline, will I be able to restore or otherwise export my course afterwards?
No. If you do not export your courses by the deadline, it will not be available to restore or otherwise export after the deadline. Once the deadline passes, courses are not guaranteed to be retrievable and once purged can’t be restored.
Will the purge remove me from the courses I had taught in old semesters?
Yes, the purge will purge courses from the semesters listed, and you will no longer see them in BOLT to be able to access them. So the number of semesters which appears in your My Courses widget will be reduced, and the list of courses will also be shorter.
What can I do with the zip file once I export it?
You can store it for importing to another LMS later, or you can store it as archive. If you exported the full course, the zip file will contain the course files you imported to BOLT when you created your course. If you import the zip file to a current BOLT course, it will essentially course copy that exported course into the new one. However, it is likely you already have newer content in newer courses, so the expectation is you will just be archiving your course files with these zipped exports.
If you have any other questions please reach out to us at imdc@bloomu.edu for assistance.