Friday, June 20, 2008

Blackboard Course Backups

We all have heard for years how important it is to back up our computer data. That mindset also applies to Blackboard courses. If you have Instructor access to a Blackboard course, it's as easy as going to the Control Panel > Archive Course. That takes you to the Export/Archive Manager. Click the archive button, and then Submit. The system will generate an archive .zip file (it may take a few minutes) that will remain in the Export/Archive Manager until you delete it. You can then right-click the .zip file and save the file to your hard drive. When and if you need to revert a course to a backup, simply go to Import Package in the Control Panel, and bring in the archive file.

You can and should create an archive whenever you want or need to, especially right after completing a lot of course development work. At a bare minimum, you should create an archive at the end of every term.

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