LITS strongly recommends that students and instructors export copies of files and/or coursework they wish to keep long-term if they don't already have copies stored outside of Moodle. (Note: Students should save a copy of each course's syllabus, as they may need to submit them to graduate school programs.)
Moodle has two features that can help: Download Center for course files and Export to Portfolio for individual assignment submissions and chat, forum and glossary posts.
Before you begin, you may need:
- To be enrolled as a participant in a Bryn Mawr Moodle course
Why should I do this?
- You will not have access to Moodle content forever.
- Students will lose access to course materials and their coursework if an instructor hides a course after the semester ends, when old courses are removed from Moodle (see Moodle retention policy), and when they graduate or leave the college.
- Instructors will lose access to course materials when old courses are removed from Moodle (see Moodle retention policy) or they leave the college.
- Moodle is not designed for file storage. Using a bibliographic tool like Zotero or nested folders on a file storage drive (e.g., OneDrive or your H:// drive) generally makes it easier to find and re-use files.
- Backing up important files is a critical component of personal data security. Although LITS makes every effort to ensure Moodle content is backed up and can be restored in case of disaster, keeping your own back-up copies provides another layer of insurance against data loss.
Please note that downloading, use, and storage of Moodle content is subject to the College’s Acceptable Use, Copyright Policy, and Data Handling policies. If you have any questions about these policies or how they apply, please contact the Help Desk.
Download course content
Use this option to download all files that have been uploaded to a course.
- On the course main page, click (Actions menu) and select Download Course Content.
- Click Download to save a .zip file of course content to your hard drive.
- Move this .zip folder to your long-term storage location, such as a folder on your hard drive, an external drive, a network drive (H:// or S:// drive), or a cloud-storage platform (e.g., OneDrive).
- Unzip the folder if you want to use and organize the files or upload them to a bibliographic tool like Zotero.
Export to portfolio
Click the Export to Portfolio links on Assignment Submission pages and Chat, Forum, or Glossary posts to save copies of these items outside of Moodle.
- Registered students and Auditors can copies of their own submissions and posts, and only one at a time.
- Instructors of record, Other editing teachers and Non-editing teachers can export all posts in a discussion thread.
Tip: Click the Activities drop-down tab, and then an Activity type, such as Assignments or Forum to list all activities of that type on a single page. This can make it easier to make sure you’ve captured all of the submissions of a certain type.
Questions?
If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!
Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor
