Rollover is the process of copying content from one Moodle course to another; the benefit being that you can re-use content from a previous run in a new run. Rollovers must be performed in the destination course (ie. the new course in which you want previous content to appear); you are then given the option to select from which previous run you wish to copy content.
Who can perform a rollover?
To perform a rollover, you need to have a teaching role in both the ‘destination’ course (where you are copying content into) and the ‘source’ course (where you are copying content from). We would recommend rollovers be done by a user with the role of Module Leader or Module Supervisor, though a rollover can also technically be performed by a user with the role of Co-teacher.
Rolling over your course content
Once you are ready:
- Go to the new course you need to roll over content INTO.
- Enter the module you need to roll over content FROM and click Search:
Pro tip: When searching for a module, we recommend using the whole title of the course as it appears in your Moodle Dashboard, e.g. ANML7004: Animals of the Sea (Semester 2 2023-2024:1[OBO]), and not just the module code.
- Select the run you wish to roll over and click Continue.
5. Important step: Check your rollover settings
Before proceeding, check near the top of the screen to ensure that the ‘roll over’ process is copying from and to the correct course.
You can deselect any items you don’t want to include by unticking the boxes in the right-hand column.
Some items in the list will be unticked by default — and they should remain unticked. In particular, make sure not to roll over the following:
❌ Do NOT roll over:
– Turnitin assignments -These should always be created separately for each run of a module as they are considered new/different assignments.
– Announcements – Each new module run has this already.
– Attendance -This will be automatically added to the new module just before Week 1.
– Coursework tool assignments – These are also added automatically just before Week 1.
– Panopto recordings – Because rolling over Panopto ‘selected content’ will result in share permissions not compatible with our recommended workflow.
– Any outdated or irrelevant content – For example, last year’s exam materials.
✅ Note:
Talis Aspire Reading Lists and Chapters will appear unticked by default, but they are safe to include in the rollover. If you’d like them to carry over, feel free to tick them.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Perform Rollover only once, as double clicking will result to duplicate content in your new course.
The process should take 2-3 minutes depending on the size of your module. When you see a success message, you can go back to your course and see your content.
After rolling over your content
Summative dropboxes
Since September 2025, summative assessments in Moodle courses are now managed (eg. student submissions, marking, mark upload) using the Moodle Coursework activity. For each summative assessment in Banner, a dropbox will be automatically deployed to your Moodle course during the first few weeks of the semester meaning you do not need to manually create dropboxes to collect and mark summative assessments.
For more information about Coursework, please visit the ‘Introducing Coursework’ Google site.
Structure in the new run
After you have completed the rollover, make sure than in the 2025-2026 run the first 5 sections of your module appear with the titles and in this order:
1. Overview
2. Key Resources
3. Any Questions?
4. Assessment (highlight this section)
5. Resits (hide from students, until needed)
Please refer to this guidance if you are not sure in which section your content should be in: How do I use the Brookes VLE template?
Get DMeLD Support
If you need help with the above process, please get in touch with your Faculty Digital Media and e-Learning Developer (DMeLD).
Rolling over your reading list
After rolling over your module, make sure any Aspire reading list you have linked to is up-to-date (you can edit the list in Aspire). Both the Course Resource List tool (which must be used to embed your reading list in the Key Resources section of your Moodle course, and may also be used to embed specific sections of your reading list in corresponding sections of your Moodle course if you wish) and the optional Reading Lists block (which can also be used to show a link to your whole reading list in the right-hand column, if you want) should roll over with the module.
If your reading list in the Key Resources section, or your embedded specific list sections, have not rolled over correctly (the links have broken) then you may be using the old, outdated version of the reading list embedding tool. In that case, delete your existing embedded list and/or sections and start again with Add an activity or resource, following the instructions for embedding a list/sections, using the current Course Resource List activity tool (blue-and-white Talis icon). This will ensure that in future your reading list and any additional embedded sections roll over correctly.