D2L Brightspace Cleanup
On May 5, 2026, IT Services will start the process of deleting registrar scheduled course shells, older than seven academic years (before the 2019/2020 academic year), from D2L Brightspace. IT Services is encouraging instructors and students to back-up their work offline. The cleanup does not include Continuing Education course shells in D2L Brightspace, nor does it include Instructor Sandboxes or other shells for ongoing courses, projects or committees.
Resources to Manage your Material
For material you intent to continue using regularly, we recommend copying your material or activity in to your Sandbox.
If you would like to archive your course, you can export a “cartridge” with all of your course material in a format you can import back into Brightspace if Necessary. If you only need a few files, it is also possible to download them directly from the content area, using the context menu
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are we deleting older course shells?
This allows us to limit the amount of data that we store in Brightspace. This also helps us align better with our responsibilities as a post-secondary education institution in Alberta and also makes it easier for us to maintain and manage Brightspace in the long term.
The seven year window ensures that we are retaining our information long enough to comply with all of our institutional requirements for protecting data.
Are my active course shells getting deleted?
For the cleanup we are only removing course shells for Registrar Scheduled classes (either graduate or undergraduate) older than seven years. Any Sandboxes, special course shells, special project shells or committee shells are not being deleted.
Where should I be keeping my course material?
We recommend keeping material and activities (quizzes, assessments, etc.) that you use regularly in your Sandbox and copying them into your active course as you need them. You can also keep your material in your own storage and upload it to Brightspace as you need it.
Do I need to worry about retaining any data about students?
The best thing to do to ensure we protect this data is to leave it in managed platforms, like Brightspace and Peoplesoft. If you have questions about how any data at the University should be protected, the Access and Privacy Office can provide more information, and provide a page of Frequently Asked Questions, specifically on academic matters.
