Brightspace Portfolio Categories Question

Question

Hello Brightspace Community,

We are using Brightspace Portfolios for the first time this semester and are currently setting up our portfolio workflow.

Our intended workflow is:

* Students submit an assignment in Brightspace.
* The instructor assesses the assignment.
* The student adds the assessed assignment to their portfolio.
* The student selects the appropriate category and adds a reflection.
* The student shares the portfolio artifact with their instructor for review and feedback.

The Issue

During our initial setup, we created a large number of categories to represent all possible portfolio requirements. After refining our process, we decided to rename and reorganize the categories so that each category corresponds directly to a required portfolio assignment. Our goal is to:

* Help students select the correct assignment when adding artifacts to their portfolio.
* Allow instructors to filter portfolio submissions by category.
* Review and provide feedback on one assignment category at a time.

We have now finalized our category structure, and the Category Management screen displays only the categories we want instructors and students to use.

However, when students view the list of available categories, they still see several old categories that no longer appear in Category Management. These outdated categories have names that are very similar to the new categories (for example, the addition of a number or letter), which is likely to cause confusion and result in students selecting the wrong category.

Question: How can we permanently remove unwanted categories from the student view before students begin submitting portfolio artifacts for assessment?

While developing and testing our portfolio workflow, we used test student accounts and created several categories to explore different organizational approaches. Test students submitted artifacts and, in some cases, categories were assigned to those artifacts. Once testing was complete, we deleted the test students, their portfolio artifacts, and the original categories. We then created a new category structure that aligns directly with the required portfolio assignments.

The new categories appear correctly in the Category Management area, and the obsolete categories no longer appear there. However, students still see many of the old categories when categorizing portfolio artifacts. Some of these categories were used during testing, but others were never assigned to any artifact at all.

Are these categories being cached, retained as retired categories, or stored elsewhere within Brightspace Portfolio? Is there a way to permanently delete them so that students only see the current category structure?

Our semester begins next week, and we would like to resolve this issue before students start submitting portfolio artifacts. Any guidance or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.

StudentView

Faculty View🤔

Lauren.R.3441 · Accepted Answer

Hi there,

Thank you for the detailed description of your setup, this is a great question that comes up when institutions are refining their Portfolio workflow before a semester launch.

What you're experiencing is a known behavior in Brightspace Portfolio. Categories that were previously assigned to artifacts (even during testing) can persist in the system as retained/retired category references, even after the original artifacts, test students, and categories themselves have been removed from Category Management. This is by design to preserve data integrity for any evidence that was ever tagged, but it can cause confusion when the old category names are still surfaced to students.

A few things to check and try:

1. Confirm whether these are "retired" categories

Categories that were once used and then deleted from Category Management are not fully purged; they are effectively retired but still stored in the Portfolio data layer. Students may still see them as selectable options because their association to the org hasn't been fully cleared.

2. Verify at the org/course level

Check whether these orphaned categories appear at the school/org level or the class/course level. School-level categories are managed by Board/Org admins under Category Management, while class-level categories are set by instructors. If any test categories were created at a different org level than expected, they may not be visible in your current Category Management view but still appear to students.

3. Recommended Path Forward: Contact D2L Support

Because these categories appear to be retained at the database level (not surfaced in the UI for deletion), the most reliable resolution before your semester starts is to open a support case with D2L. Provide:

* The names of the orphaned categories students are seeing
* Confirmation that they no longer appear in Category Management
* The org/course context where they appear

D2L Support can investigate whether these are cached, retired, or orphaned category records and initiate a cleanup on your behalf.

4. Interim workaround

If time is critical, consider providing students with clear written instructions on which categories to select, and remind instructors to filter only by the new category names when reviewing submissions. This won't resolve the root cause but will minimize confusion while a support case is being processed.

Given your semester begins next week, I'd recommend opening that support case as soon as possible and flagging it as time-sensitive. You can reach D2L Support at https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/s/.

Hope this helps get you sorted before launch! 🎓