Log in to create and rate content, and to follow, bookmark, and share content with other members. Not a member? Join Now!

AnsweredAssumed Answered

Concerns when deleting old courses after archiving - AKA The Archive Club

Question asked by tp36301 on Nov 15, 2016
Latest reply on Dec 13, 2017 by lk27381

Like • Show 0 Likes0
Comment • 3

Greetings,

We are finally potentially planning to move some of our older courses after archiving and we are managed hosted after several years.

I know that in Office Hours some have mentioned their experiences before and after this process.

If folks can post here or DM me on possible concerns or after the fact experiences they have had, that would be great.

Some of the issues I have concerns with thus far include:

Course copies that route from older courses

Links to older content if found as embedded

Restore issues in the future for large courses archived

Retrieving data on older courses for planning (less of issue but still a concern)

Let me know what you thoughts are on this process that have made it to the other side.

Cheers,

Toni P.

1 person has this question

Outcomes

3 Replies

ingram.annette Nov 15, 2016 5:19 PM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
Hi Toni:

We only keep 4 semesters worth of courses on the server: current and 3 previous semesters. There are often more than that due to overlap between new semester course creation and when I actually delete the courses. We are Managed Hosted so storage space is a concern. I'm kind of a watchdog when it comes to course file duplication and getting rid of unused and non-linked files in courses. (like those wonderful times when the instructor copies his class more than once!!)

I delete the courses via the GUI > System Admin tab > Courses. When MH changed the process of deleting courses by changing the DSK and sending me to the Data Sources to delete the courses which left orphan content and then painstaking having to clean up the orphan content that was generated from that, the 1 day it takes to delete via Courses is far less time consuming. We took the stance that if a live course is linking back to an old file/course, the link needs to be updated in the current course. Generally speaking we haven't had any issues with that. I will say that we have only had Content Collection since the beginning of this year so we haven't really made use of placing files there and then linking them to multiple classes.

We have had A LOT of clean up issues since our initial migration from WebCT 4.1 to 9.0 to 9.1. It has taken me the better part of 5 years to clean up the storage mess from all of it mainly because of the significant amount of time it took to clean up 1 course from the extraneous duplication of files.

Our process:
1. Courses are archived at the conclusion of each semester. I haven't been archiving the activity accumulator regularly, but I need to start having it included with the archives.
2. Delete the courses via the GUI > System Admin > Courses. Again, it is time consuming - probably takes me a whole day to delete almost 1,800. Temporarily changing the Transactional Change Size Limit can help reduce the amount of errors you get when deleting courses.
3. I never restore an archived course directly to Production. I always restore the course on Staging (which is usually cloned at least once a year). Generally speaking, the older courses are often on Staging so if there is a need to actually run reports, we can usually get them from the Staging server. In our situation, if a course is being re-created due to a grade challenge or something like that, the standard archive seems to suffice for our faculty.
4. I have had to have Support restore some of the larger courses for me. That hasn't been much of an issue though as we set course quota limits to 1GB. I do have a handful of courses that are over 2 GB in size (due to assignments, tests, etc. and not Course Files).
It might not be the best way to maintain courses. I do have archives on external hard drives. I have never deleted any of the old course archives. I still have old WebCT courses on CDs from 2000!

I don't know if that helped. I'm curious about the procedures others have regarding course archives and deletion.
Annette
5 people found this helpful
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
- tp36301 @ ingram.annette on Nov 15, 2016 6:09 PM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  Annette,
  
  This is quite helpful. Thanks so much for providing the details in your process.
  
  Do you need to add the activities accumulator in the actual MH request each time?
  
  We do have a separate server for archives that is different than our staging or test servers. Unfortunately, we do have some larger courses.in place as we have not been able to implement quotas (some day that will happen ).
  
  Has a deleted archived course ever affected course copies where there might have been an old association? Let me know what you experience has been there.
  
  Thanks much again for sharing your experience on this.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Toni P.
  1 person found this helpful
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
lk27381 Dec 13, 2017 12:33 PM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
Hi Toni,

I'm wondering if you have put any process into place and what you found to be the pitfalls. We are currently in the same boat with regard to course copies that route from older courses and links in current courses to older content potentially breaking when the original course site is deleted.

A report that Bb generated showed that there are a number of links in course sites that apparently come from the course copy even though we choose the no link option when performing the course copies.

So I was wondering how you ended up handling these concerns and how your delete process went the first and subsequent times.

Thank you so much for any information that you are able to share.

Also, if anyone else has any insights I welcome them.

Thanks,
Linda
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions

Concerns when deleting old courses after archiving - AKA The Archive Club

Outcomes

Related Content

Recommended Content