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This page provides an overview of the BlazeVIEW Records Retention Policy, including key information and frequently asked questions to help instructors understand how course content is managed. BlazeVIEW courses are removed annually following a 5‑year retention cycle. Each Spring semester, a list of courses scheduled for removal will be published along with a detailed timeline. Instructors will receive advance notice, clear instructions, and sufficient time to download any course data they need to keep. To retain courses beyond the standard 5‑year retention schedule, review the section titled "How Can I Retain Courses for More Than the 5‑Year Retention Schedule" for available options and guidance.

For additional information, contact Marsha Dukes, Associate Director of eLearning, at mbdukes@valdosta.edu or your Department Head.

 

The University System of Georgia (USG) recognizes the importance of a consistent and stable learning management system (LMS) in the facilitation and innovation of teaching and learning. The LMS is designed to be the official system used by instructors to deliver online content, assignments, and other course materials to students for teaching and learning. To optimize the performance of this system and to operate within product licensing limits, data and content stored within the LMS must be limited.

Effective January 2025, official LMS courses generated in BlazeVIEW by our student information system (SIS), or any other courses with students enrolled may be deleted from the LMS five years following the end of the semester in which they are taught. For example, a course taught in Fall 2020 may be permanently and irreversibly removed at the end of December 2025. Valdosta State University will be notified at least one semester prior to the deletion of the courses that are scheduled for deletion. Valdosta State University is charged with communicating a 30-day notice to all faculty and department leadership when courses are scheduled for removal. Institutions must also make a request for any special circumstance during the 30-day notice. This will give the instructor(s) an opportunity to save any important documents or data to locations outside of the LMS. Institutions are responsible for exporting or archiving course materials and student work that must be kept for accreditation or record retention purposes beyond the five years.

Privacy and security: Data should be retained in accordance with USG policy, which is based on retaining data for a specified period.

System health: Since VSU implemented BlazeVIEW in 2013, the number of courses and amount of storage space used has grown to unsustainable levels. Users with large course lists, especially instructors, may face performance and functionality issues.

Limited storage: The LMS is not designed, equipped, or contracted to be long-term or unlimited storage.

Download the 2026 BlazeVIEW Course Removal Report for a complete list of courses targeted for removal in 2026:

  • Banner courses from semesters before Fall 2020.
  • Non-Banner courses with create or end dates before 2021.
  • Non-Banner courses that have not been accessed by a student, instructor, or administrator in 5+ years.

Note: Non-Banner courses include sandboxes and other manually-created shells not associated with a for-credit course.

 

Timeline
Action Banner Courses and Non-Banner Courses
List of courses provided to institutions March 23, 2026
Identify courses to be removed June 1, 2026
Last date for instructors to access courses September 7, 2026
Courses permanently removed November 30, 2026

Any Banner and non-Banner course contents or materials should be exported or downloaded to another location before September 7, 2026.

Course removals are scheduled annually based on a 5-year cycle. Dates for future course removals will be determined.

When a course is deleted, all course files, student grades, and student work will be permanently removed from the system. This will include all content pages, uploaded documents, hyperlinks, gradebook contents, discussion boards, submitted assignments and quizzes, and so on. Materials hosted elsewhere (e.g., Kaltura videos) will not be impacted.

Deleting BlazeVIEW courses that are more than 5 years old meets the timeframe required by the USG to retain student records for grade appeals. Information about the USG's records retention policies and procedures can be found at the following website:

Examinations, Tests, Term Papers, Homework Records, and Grade Books

Number: 0472-06-012

Description: This series documents student subject mastery in institution courses. Records may include but are not limited to: examinations and answers; quizzes and answers; homework assignments; course papers; term papers; essay assignments; and grade books. This series does not include graduate student qualifying or comprehensive examinations.

Retention: Uncontested grade results: 1 term after completion; Contested grade results: Until resolved, whichever is longer.

1. Download the 2026 BlazeVIEW Course Removal Report.

2. Identify courses you wish to retain for more than the 5-year retention schedule.

3. Indicate those courses by highlighting the row on the 2026 BlazeVIEW Course Removal Report

4. Email a copy of the report with your request to blazeview@valdosta.edu no later than June 1, 2026. 

Watch the following video or read the steps for exporting your course materials as a zip file. Note: When a course is exported, it does not retain student data or submissions.

 

 

Watch the following video or read the steps for exporting the course gradebook.

 

Watch the following video or read the steps for downloading student assignment submissions.

Watch the following video or read the steps for downloading quiz results.

Watch the following video or read the steps for downloading files from your course.

Kaltura videos will remain available through your Kaltura My Media account and do not need to be downloaded. However, videos uploaded directly into the course will be permanently deleted with the course. Follow the steps above for downloading files.