diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6cbcb153436..7c88e7adeb1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+- Role: edxapp
+  - Set the EDXAPP_IMPORT_EXPORT_BUCKET setting to an empty string
+
 - Role: edxapp
   - Updated default value of the EDXAPP_ENTERPRISE_COURSE_ENROLLMENT_AUDIT_MODES setting to ["audit", "honor"]
 
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
index 7a8a7979561..299335a4c09 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ EDXAPP_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID:  "None"
 EDXAPP_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY:  "None"
 EDXAPP_AWS_QUERYSTRING_AUTH: false
 EDXAPP_AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME: "SET-ME-PLEASE (ex. bucket-name)"
-EDXAPP_IMPORT_EXPORT_BUCKET: "SET-ME-PLEASE (ex. bucket-name)"
+# An empty string makes the course import/export functionality to use the
+# file system for storage. Setting this to a bucket-name will use AWS
+EDXAPP_IMPORT_EXPORT_BUCKET: ""
 EDXAPP_AWS_S3_CUSTOM_DOMAIN: "SET-ME-PLEASE (ex. bucket-name.s3.amazonaws.com)"
 EDXAPP_SWIFT_USERNAME: "None"
 EDXAPP_SWIFT_KEY: "None"