M30a - Duplicating your Moodle course with the CLC rollover tool

M30a - Duplicating your Moodle course with the CLC rollover tool

CLC Rollover tool 

What is the CLC rollover tool?

The Course Life Cycle (CLC) rollover tool creates a duplicate Moodle course based on an existing one, without any student content such as posts, assignment submissions, etc. It allows the alignment with the next iteration of that course in Portico (but will not add any students at the point of rollover). When you have rolled over the course, you will have two separate courses (such as ABCD001_25-26 and ABCD0001_26-27) with different start dates and end dates. New rolled-over courses are hidden from students.

Who does the rollover?

Anyone with editing rights (such as Course Administrators or Tutors) who previously would have undertaken the ‘reset’ process for the new academic year, can access the Course Rollover function and rollover courses.

What do I need before I start a rollover?

You simply need to know which course you want to rollover to the next academic year and which Portico module delivery(ies) the module aligns to. This will be used to configure your course while it’s being rolled over. It would also be beneficial for you to have the new academic year's course start and end dates to hand, so that the course appears in the correct place (Past/Present/Future) in your navigation in Moodle, once rolled over.

UCL undergraduate and postgraduate modules generally conclude at the end of the Summer Term in June, though the formal assessment (exam) periods run longer. Standardized module and term end dates follow specific timelines depending on the level of study

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/study/current-students/life-ucl/term-dates-and-closures

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/study/current-students/exams-and-assessments/central-assessment-timetable

What does not get rolled over?

Zoom meetings, Reading List/Library block, Common Timetable Block do not get rolled over into the new Moodle course. Also,

Turnitin assignments will be excluded from rollover this year [2026] to encourage more people to make the most of the Moodle-SITS integrations for marks transfer and importing extensions

Please review the checklist page M30f - Updating and checking your course, ready for use this academic year for a comprehensive list of items to review after you have completed the rollover.

What Moodle roles get rolled-over to the new course? 

No student roles are rolled-over. This year [2026], staff who have left UCL and whose accounts are suspended will no longer be carried over to the new course.

The roles below keep their enrolments into the new 2026/27 course:

  • Accessibility Assistant 

  • Category Administrator 

  • Category Administrator (No E-Mail) 

  • Category Observer 

  • Course Administrator 

  • Data Protection Officer 

  • Exams Office 

  • External Examiner 

  • Faculty Learning Technologist 

  • Leader  

  • MyFeedback Departmental Administrator 

  • MyFeedback Usage Analyser 

  • Non-editing Tutor 

  • Personal tutor 

  • Service Desk  

  • SSW Supporter  

  • Staff Observer  

  • Tutor 

How to rollover a course from 2025/26 to 2026/27?

  1. Access the course you want to roll over.

  2. Click More in the tab menu at the top of the site, then click Course Rollover.  The Course Rollover tool will take you through a series of steps to confirm information about the course you are rolling over. 

  3. Step One - Alignment - this step allows the tool to identify the data from Portico for the course you want to rollover. Select the Alignment Type for your Course – Module, Programme or Miscellaneous. This will automatically select the correct category for your course to be rolled over to. Use the Miscellaneous category when rolling over non-standard courses, such as departmental resources, staff training spaces, reading lists, or community hubs, that do not correspond directly to a formal Portico-linked Module or Programme.

  4. Under Alignments with Portico deliveries, you are presented with a proposed delivery alignment for next year, based on current mappings of your course (if you have mappings in the Portico Block). This does not map student enrolments. Check whether a module/programme delivery was previously aligned to your course. You must select a delivery alignment for the rollover tool to work.

  5. Review the suggested alignments. Ensure the year in the suggested alignment year is 2026.

 

Screen shot for setting up the alignment
Screen shot for setting up the alignment

6. If this is not correct, or you need to align to multiple module deliveries, use the Search box to find your module delivery(ies) or programme entities from Portico (if your course is not aligned to a Portico module, but a programme or department). The search box was recently improved to make the search function and search display results more user-friendly. You can now have the results display alphabetically by all types, Faculty, Department, Module Delivery Programme or Route.

Screen shot for search box
Screen shot for search box filter
  1. Once you have completed your search and identified the correct alignment, click the “+ Add” button to select the module/programme alignment(s). Ensure the year is 2026.

image-20260625-103358.png
Screen shot of the search results

8. Click the Next button.

Step Two - Course Data

This step confirms course dates, naming and category location in Moodle.

Screen shot for Step Two - Course Data
Screen shot for Step Two - Course Data
  1. On this screen, you see a summary of the configuration for your Current course and the Rolled-over course you are about to create. The tool will auto-populate the fields from available information within Moodle/Portico, and based on the information you provided in the previous screen.

  2. Check the course start and end date. This is important as it will determine if your course appears in the 'past', 'in progress' or 'future' filters within the My courses tab in Moodle.
    The suggestion is taken from the module delivery data in Portico. You can change the current course’s start and end date.

  3. The rolled-over course information will offer Course full/short names as well as a Course ID number and will display course start/end dates as currently listed within Portico.
    The tool uses the alignment you previously selected and also highlights the Moodle category that the course will be rolled over to.

  4. Check (and amend if incorrect) the rolled-over course start and end date.

  5. When you are ready, click the “Request rollover” button.

  6. You will get a confirmation of the rollover on-screen.

  7. You can navigate away from this screen. You will receive an email of confirmation when the rollover is complete. Return to the new 2026/27 course to check and update the course for the new academic year.

PLEASE NOTE: By default, the new course will be Hidden from students. However it will still be visible to staff within the My courses tab. The label Hidden from students will display over the course image to make its status clear.

At any point after you have requested a Rollover, you can click the Course Rollover link from the More tab to see its status.
This can be one of five statuses: Queued, Pending, Processing, Complete or Failed. 
Queued means that the rollover is in a queue and it will be processed as soon as possible;
Pending means that the rollover is about to be processed;
Processing means that the rollover is yet to complete;
Complete means that the rollover has successfully completed and a direct link to the new course will be provided on this screen;
Failed means that an issue has occurred with the rollover.

What if the rollover fails?

If the rollover fails, there will be an error message in first column of the table. This should indicate the reason for the error. Also, there is a known issue whereby sometimes when it fails, the status simply remains on pending and then the course is only copied partially. If you experience any issues you can’t resolve, please fill out this MyServices form.

What do I need to do after the rollover?

You can update the activity due dates, amend content, and then enrol the new 2026/27 cohort of students. 

  1. Follow the checklist M30f - Updating and checking your course, ready for use this academic year to finalise course configurations and amend your new course for the new academic year.

  2. Activate mapping(s) to add students to the 2026/27 page if you use the Portico block for enrolments.

  3. Make the course visible.

FAQ

Rollover tool

Q. What do I need to prepare /do before rolling over my course?
A. You need your course name, the Portico delivery code(s), start and end dates for your course.

 

Q. Who can do the rollover?
A. The rollover function is available to the Moodle Course Administrator and Tutor roles.

 

Q. What happens to my old course once I have rolled over?
A. The old/current course will have a course end date set and will reside in the 2025/26 category structure, otherwise it will remain unchanged and continue to be available as previously.

 

Q. Can I edit my course full name, short name, Portico ID, category?
A. Yes.

 

Q. Can I edit the start date / end date of the rolled over course?
A. Yes.

Please note having a correct course start date and course end date is critical to the operation of Course Life Cycle processes. Inputting of incorrect dates may negatively affect your course interacting with Moodle activities.

   

Q. Can I roll over the same course multiple times?
A. Yes. But you will need to amend the rolled over course name as the course names are unique.

 

Q. Can I roll over a course reading list?
A. Course Reading lists need to be re-configured after the rollover. Course Reading lists rely on the 8-character module code. The naming convention used by the course rollover tool ensures old and new courses will be able to access it.

 

Q. Who receives the rollover completion email? Can I add another user?
A. The person requesting the course rollover. No, but you can forward the email when you get it.

 

Q. How does the rollover work for courses that run in alternate years when there isn’t a 2026-27 instance to rollover?
A. Delete the suggested incremented delivery alignment in step one, search and add the term 2026 year alignment.

 

Q. What happens to my 2025-26 course when I roll it over to 2026-27?
A. Your 2025/26 course shall remain in its equivalent folder for 2025/26. Nothing else happens: the 2025/26 course is still visible and no enrolments or content are altered. 
Please note, however, that the dates you select for the 2026/27 course on the second screen (Course Data) will change if different dates are selected (as it defaults to SITS data).

 

Q. What happens if somebody forgets to rollover their course? How do they get this resolved?
A. They can roll the course over at a later time.

 

Q. I started rolling over a course but I don't have any suggestions in Step 2: Course Data. What can I do?
A. It's likely that you have selected 'Programme' alignment on  'Step One', then aligned to only Module delivery(ies) and no programme. 
If so, use the back arrow in your browser to go to the previous screen and select Module alignment, then carry on. The tool should now suggest Portico-based names and IDs in the rolled-over Course Data screen. If you still experience an issue, please contact Digital Education Support.

Q. I started rolling over a course but my course suggested category is 'Temporary 26/27 Courses'. How do I fix this?
A. It's likely that you have not selected a 2026 alignment on 'Step One', and then aligned to a Module delivery that would be in a category year that doesn't exist in Moodle.
If so, use the back arrow in your browser to go to the previous screen and select a 2026 delivery alignment, then carry on. The tool should now suggest the appropriate category in the rolled-over Course Data screen. If you still experience an issue, please contact  Digital Education Support.


LSA

Q. Where do I run my (non-centrally managed) Late Summer Assessments (LSA)?
A. All Moodle Late Summer Assessments are to run in your 2025-26 course in Moodle.


Course alignment

Q. What happens if my course has no mapping?
A. You must select a delivery alignment to use the rollover tool. The alignment decides which departmental category the course will be rolled over into and is based upon which department the course belongs to.

 

Q. What happens if my course has multiple delivery codes/mappings?
A. The tool allows you to align the course to multiple course deliveries.

 

Q. What happens if my course is aligned to a programme/route?
A. The tool allows you to align your course to a programme or route.

 

Q. What happens if my course is mapped to a module and to a programme?
A. The tool allows you to align your course to both module(s) and programme(s).

 

Q. What happens if I add an alignment to a 'timeless' course to roll over content?
A. It will move your timeless course into the relevant year/department category relative to the Portico delivery. Your mapping will appear (inactive) in the Portico block in your course.

 

Q. Can I rollover my Term 1 course into a Term 2 course?
A. Yes, you can delete the suggested incremented delivery alignment in step one, and search & add the term 2 alignment. You can then proceed with the rollover.

 

Process and Tool development

Q. Why is this better than the current process (for teachers and for staff in departments, not for Digi Ed colleagues)? What is the resource/time gain?
A. The timeframe where courses can be prepared for the next academic year is expanded significantly - it can happen much earlier - which allows workload to be less compressed.

 

Q. What guidance will be provided to departments to ensure that we are not rolling over copyrighted material that is out of licence/checking that we are removing old assessment information etc.? Will we need a Moodle page rollover health check or something for colleagues to work through?
A. Any guidance you provided before is the same as when using course reset. The rollover process is the equivalent to the reset process.

Q: What happens if we use a course as a landing page? Will the link to the relevant courses be replicated?
A. You will need to update the links in the rolled over course.