Archiving courses in ICON
The University of Iowa is implementing a content retention plan to archive ICON courses to stay in compliance with the Title II mandate that all active course materials must meet accessibility standards. Archived courses are an exception; if older courses are archived and kept solely for reference and not actively used, they do not need to be remediated. This is outlined in the Summary of Exceptions from the ADA resource guide.
If you have questions about archiving ICON courses, there is ICON Course Archiving FAQs or you can contact your college's IT department for specific recommendations for your area.
Course Archiving Process
Year 1
ActiveStudents' ability to participate in the course and access it from the Dashboard ends with the end of the term. The course transitions to read-only view and access is only available through the Courses page access after that.
Complete access removed only when the instructor or admin checks the box to restrict students from viewing within the course settings. (This step is optional.)
Teachers, TAs, and Designers maintain full access to the course until the end of the next year's equivalent term.
Active courses should contain remediated content.Year 2-5
ArchiveCourse names will be updated to indicate they are Archived.
Students' access continues in read-only view from the Courses page unless an instructor/admin previously checked the box to restrict students from viewing within the course settings.Teachers, TAs, and Designers can view the course in read-only mode, and it is accessible through the Courses page. The course is removed from the Dashboard.
Instructors will have access to a self-service dashboard to restore access to the course.
Courses do not need to be remediated for accessibility in this stage.Year 6
Deep StorageCourse names will be updated to indicate they are in the Deep Storage stage.
All course enrollments removed (students, teachers, etc.)
Instructors are removed from the self-service dashboard.
Instructors can submit a ticket to Help Desk staff to request access.
Courses do not need to be remediated for accessibility in this stage.
Year 7
DeletedCourse is deleted from ICON and cannot be restored.
Opt-In Archive
To archive courses before their regularly scheduled date:
- Click on Settings on the bottom of your ICON Navigation Menu to the left of your ICON course.
- Rename your course to indicate it is archived by adding [Archive] before the course name in the Name field and the Course Code field.
- Under Participation, make sure there is an end date set.
- Click Update Course Details at the bottom of your screen.
The next time the ICON Archiving process runs, the courses will be moved to the Archive state.
These courses meet the Title II exception guidelines for content remediation.
Opt-In Deep Storage
Instructors and course administrators can opt-in to move courses to Deep Storage courses earlier via the self-serve Course Archive dashboard available from the homepage of their ICON course.
What happens to older courses on July 1, 2026?
ICON courses from spring 2022 and earlier will be labeled as Archived for one year before going to Deep Storage.
Courses from summer 2022 through spring 2025 will be labeled as Archived and their Deep Storage dates will be calculated based on the year they were taught.
Courses submitted by collegiate admins in early spring 2026 will be labeled as Archived for one year before going to Deep Storage.