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Course Lifecycle

Summary

  • OLAT courses are automatically terminated and deleted after several years.
  • The course end date – or inactivity if no end date is set – determines the lifecycle.
  • Course owners are informed by email about any status change.
  • The end of the course and the course status can be adjusted manually under certain conditions.
  • Permanently deleted courses cannot be restored.

Life phases of a course

An OLAT course goes through the following phases:

Course end

The course end date is the basis for all subsequent automated steps.

  • Campus course (UZH only)
    The end date is automatically taken from the course catalogue.
  • Manually created courses
    • The end date is set by the course owners.
    • Course without end date: If there has been no activity in the course for 6 months, the current date is automatically treated as the course end.

Status „Finished“

6 months after the course end, the status is automatically set to "Finished".

All members still have access to the course, but in ready-only mode. Course participants can find the course under the "Finished Courses" tab.

Move to Trash

4 years after the course end, the course is automatically moved to the trash.

All user data is removed and the course is no longer accessible to participants or coaches.

Course owners with author permissions can find the deleted course in the Author area under the "Deleted learning resources" tab. The course can be restored via the 3-dot menu. The user data will not be restored.

Final deletion

6 months after being moved to the trash, the course is permanently deleted.

This action cannot be undone.

Deadlines

Step Timing
Status “Finished” 6 months after the course end
Move to Trash 4 years after the course end
Final deletion 6 months after being moved to the trash

Notes for course owners

Notifications

With every status change (e.g. “Finished”, “Moved to the trash”), course owners receive an automatic email.

These notifications allow course owners to take action in time.

Options for action

Course owners can intervene in the automated process as long as the course has not been permanently deleted.

Procedure: 1. Open course 2. Administration → Settings → Execution * Courses with execution period * Adjust end date directly * Courses without execution period * Set Execution Period to "With begin and end date" * enter the desired end date * Change status (e.g. back to “Published”)

Adjustment of the end date for campus courses

For campus courses, the end date can only be adjusted once the course has been automatically set to "Finished".

Effects on coaches and participants

Participants and coaches do not receive notifications about the course lifecycle.

Once a course is deleted, its content is no longer accessible to participants or coaches.