{"id":11029,"date":"2026-01-22T10:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/?page_id=11029"},"modified":"2026-01-22T10:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:57:15","slug":"moodle-data-retention","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/","title":{"rendered":"Moodle Data Retention"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Visibility of Standard Course Sites<\/h2>\n<p>To comply with copyright requirements and to help keep course lists in Moodle manageable for faculty and students, standard Moodle course sites will be made unavailable to students approximately two weeks after the course concludes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Faculty access: Faculty retain full access to their course sites at all times and may make a course visible to students again if needed.<\/li>\n<li>Course content and enrollment: No course content will be deleted, and enrolled students will remain listed as participants. Students will simply be unable to access the course unless it is made visible again by the instructor.<\/li>\n<li>Timing: This change will be implemented approximately two weeks after the end of each semester.<\/li>\n<li>Exceptions: This policy does not apply to non-standard course sites, such as those created for departments, programs, committees, or other special purposes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Retention of Course Sites<\/h2>\n<p>Moodle course sites are retained for five prior academic years plus the current year. Each year, course sites that are six years old are permanently removed from the system.<\/p>\n<p>Faculty who wish to retain older course materials may create backup files of their course sites. These backups can be restored into new Moodle sites as needed. NOTE: these backup files are not readable outside of the Moodle platform. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/how-to-backup-your-moodle-courses\/\">Instructions for creating a backup and restoring the content can be found on our Moodle Resource Center<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Retention of Activity Logs<\/h2>\n<p>Moodle activity logs are retained for six months, which supports instructional review and troubleshooting needs for the most recent semester.<\/p>\n<h2>Access to Kaltura Streaming Content<\/h2>\n<p>Streaming video course reserves provided through Kaltura within Moodle are available only for the duration of the semester in which they are assigned. To comply with copyright restrictions, video reserves are removed from Moodle course sites at the end of each semester.<\/p>\n<h2>Guiding Principles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>This policy is guided by the following principles:<\/li>\n<li>Retaining courses and content for a period of time that faculty and students find adequate and useful<\/li>\n<li>Optimizing the performance and reliability of the learning management system<\/li>\n<li>Using storage space efficiently and minimizing the financial impact of expanding system storage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 data-start=\"365\" data-end=\"400\">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)<\/h2>\n<h3 data-start=\"402\" data-end=\"423\">General Questions<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"425\" data-end=\"736\"><strong data-start=\"425\" data-end=\"483\">Why are Moodle courses hidden after the semester ends?<\/strong><br data-start=\"483\" data-end=\"486\" \/>Courses are made unavailable to students after the semester to support copyright compliance, reduce confusion in course lists, and help keep the learning management system running efficiently. Faculty retain full access to their courses at all times.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"738\" data-end=\"985\"><strong data-start=\"738\" data-end=\"786\">Does this mean my course content is deleted?<\/strong><br data-start=\"786\" data-end=\"789\" \/>No. Course content is not deleted when a course is made unavailable to students. All materials, activities, and enrollments remain intact unless the course reaches the end of its retention period.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"987\" data-end=\"1167\"><strong data-start=\"987\" data-end=\"1040\">Who can still access a course after it is hidden?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1040\" data-end=\"1043\" \/>Faculty retain full access to their courses. Students cannot access the course unless the instructor makes it visible again.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"1169\" data-end=\"1172\" \/>\n<h3 data-start=\"1174\" data-end=\"1208\">Student Access to Past Courses<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1210\" data-end=\"1436\"><strong data-start=\"1210\" data-end=\"1267\">Can students access a course after the semester ends?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1267\" data-end=\"1270\" \/>By default, no. Courses are hidden from students approximately two weeks after the semester ends. However, instructors may make a course visible again if they choose.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1438\" data-end=\"1605\"><strong data-start=\"1438\" data-end=\"1488\">Can a student request access to a past course?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1488\" data-end=\"1491\" \/>Yes. Students should contact the course instructor directly. Instructors may re-enable access at their discretion.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1607\" data-end=\"1741\"><strong data-start=\"1607\" data-end=\"1666\">Will students still appear as enrolled in past courses?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1666\" data-end=\"1669\" \/>Yes. Student enrollments are retained even when a course is unavailable.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"1743\" data-end=\"1746\" \/>\n<h3 data-start=\"1748\" data-end=\"1769\">Faculty Questions<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1771\" data-end=\"1894\"><strong data-start=\"1771\" data-end=\"1828\">Can I make my course visible to students again later?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1828\" data-end=\"1831\" \/>Yes. Faculty can make a course visible to students at any time.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1896\" data-end=\"2076\"><strong data-start=\"1896\" data-end=\"1949\">How long will my Moodle courses remain available?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1949\" data-end=\"1952\" \/>Courses are retained for five prior academic years plus the current year. Courses older than six years are removed annually.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2078\" data-end=\"2288\"><strong data-start=\"2078\" data-end=\"2147\">What if I want to keep a course longer than the retention period?<\/strong><br data-start=\"2147\" data-end=\"2150\" \/>Faculty are encouraged to create a backup of any course they wish to retain. Backup files can be restored into new Moodle sites as needed.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2290\" data-end=\"2519\"><strong data-start=\"2290\" data-end=\"2377\">Will courses used for accreditation, assessment, or teaching portfolios be removed?<\/strong><br data-start=\"2377\" data-end=\"2380\" \/>Such courses follow the same retention timeline. Faculty should create backups of any courses needed for long-term documentation or review.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"2521\" data-end=\"2524\" \/>\n<h3 data-start=\"2526\" data-end=\"2557\">Kaltura and Streaming Media<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2559\" data-end=\"2847\"><strong data-start=\"2559\" data-end=\"2623\">Why are streaming videos removed at the end of the semester?<\/strong><br data-start=\"2623\" data-end=\"2626\" \/>Streaming videos provided through <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Kaltura<\/span><\/span> are governed by copyright and licensing agreements. To comply with these requirements, video course reserves are removed at the end of each semester.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2849\" data-end=\"3127\"><strong data-start=\"2849\" data-end=\"2901\">Can I reuse streaming videos in a future course?<\/strong><br data-start=\"2901\" data-end=\"2904\" \/>In many cases, yes\u2014but videos need to be re-requested or re-linked for the new semester.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"3129\" data-end=\"3132\" \/>\n<h3 data-start=\"3134\" data-end=\"3160\">Activity Logs and Data<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3162\" data-end=\"3398\"><strong data-start=\"3162\" data-end=\"3196\">What are Moodle activity logs?<\/strong><br data-start=\"3196\" data-end=\"3199\" \/>Activity logs record actions within <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Moodle<\/span><\/span>, such as logins and interactions with course materials. They are used primarily for troubleshooting and instructional review.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3400\" data-end=\"3548\"><strong data-start=\"3400\" data-end=\"3440\">How long are activity logs retained?<\/strong><br data-start=\"3440\" data-end=\"3443\" \/>Activity logs are retained for six months, which typically covers the most recent semester.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3550\" data-end=\"3707\"><strong data-start=\"3550\" data-end=\"3606\">Can faculty access activity logs from older courses?<\/strong><br data-start=\"3606\" data-end=\"3609\" \/>No. Once logs exceed the retention period, they are automatically deleted and cannot be recovered.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"3709\" data-end=\"3712\" \/>\n<h3 data-start=\"3714\" data-end=\"3750\">Special and Non-Standard Courses<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3752\" data-end=\"4020\"><strong data-start=\"3752\" data-end=\"3812\">Does this policy apply to departmental or program sites?<\/strong><br data-start=\"3812\" data-end=\"3815\" \/>No. Non-standard sites\u2014such as those created for departments, programs, committees, or special projects\u2014are not subject to automatic course visibility changes. Retention practices for these sites may vary.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4022\" data-end=\"4236\"><strong data-start=\"4022\" data-end=\"4073\">Who should I contact about a non-standard site?<\/strong><br data-start=\"4073\" data-end=\"4076\" \/>Faculty and staff should contact the instructional technology or digital learning team for guidance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Visibility of Standard Course Sites To comply with copyright requirements and to help keep course lists in Moodle manageable for faculty and students, standard Moodle course sites will be made unavailable to students approximately two weeks after the course concludes. Faculty access: Faculty retain full access to their course sites at all times and may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"parent":10209,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11029","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.5 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Moodle Data Retention - Library &amp; Information Technology Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moodle Data Retention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Visibility of Standard Course Sites To comply with copyright requirements and to help keep course lists in Moodle manageable for faculty and students, standard Moodle course sites will be made unavailable to students approximately two weeks after the course concludes. Faculty access: Faculty retain full access to their course sites at all times and may [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Library &amp; Information Technology Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-22T15:57:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/\",\"name\":\"Moodle Data Retention - Library &amp; Information Technology Services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T15:01:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-22T15:57:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Digital Learning &amp; Scholarship\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Moodle\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Moodle Data Retention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/\",\"name\":\"Library &amp; Information Technology Services\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moodle Data Retention - Library &amp; Information Technology Services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moodle Data Retention","og_description":"Visibility of Standard Course Sites To comply with copyright requirements and to help keep course lists in Moodle manageable for faculty and students, standard Moodle course sites will be made unavailable to students approximately two weeks after the course concludes. Faculty access: Faculty retain full access to their course sites at all times and may [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/","og_site_name":"Library &amp; Information Technology Services","article_modified_time":"2026-01-22T15:57:15+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/","url":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/","name":"Moodle Data Retention - Library &amp; Information Technology Services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-22T15:01:30+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-22T15:57:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/moodle-data-retention\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Digital Learning &amp; Scholarship","item":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Moodle","item":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/digital-scholarship\/moodle\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Moodle Data Retention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/","name":"Library &amp; Information Technology Services","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11029\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/lits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}