Rollover of Modules

At the end of the academic year comes the time to set up new Blackboard courses for next year. New courses are created during the summer months, once the syllabus files have been returned to Academic Records. 

This way, when the next year begins you will have a fresh and empty Blackboard course with new students enrolled (once they register), thus allowing a new cohort to use the course, unaffected by previous students. 

New courses are automatically created for each new academic year. For the academic year 2021-2022, these courses can be identified by the prefix 2122-Course Code (e.g. 2122-MS115, or 2122-1BA1).

Once students begin to register for the new academic year, they will appear in the list of enrolled students on their respective Blackboard courses automatically (within 24 hours). The student registration schedule is viewable online from the Registration Office.

Verify the Rollover of Modules in three steps

  1. Check that your new courses are on Blackboard.
  2. Ensure the Instructor list is correct. Add or remove instructors and teaching assistants as necessary
  3. Populate your course by creating new content, or you may choose to copy content from a previous year.

Things to consider

There is a choice: (a) you can copy individual pieces of content, rather than the whole module, or (b) you can copy the whole module content in bulk and then delete all those elements which you don’t need. 

Whatever approach you take, please take these aspects into consideration: 

  • Avoid having ‘nested’ folders – in other words, folders within folders (or even deeper!). It is easier to access materials with only a few clicks, and less confusing if you can avoid students getting lost in the depths! In addition, most other VLEs (including the future version of Blackboard) don’t allow more than one level deep, so it’s helping get your materials ‘future proof’. 
  • Be careful with video content! You shouldn’t upload video files directly into Blackboard. The Kaltura video server that is integrated into Blackboard handles this content much better (and saves using up expensive Blackboard storage). You can find ‘Kaltura Media’ in the Build Content menu, or do it through ‘My Media’ in your Blackboard home page. (If you have any large video files on Blackboard please move them to Kaltura and, afterwards, delete the version that’s on Blackboard itself). 
  • Remember, if you have any queries about this, you can consult with your College Learning Technologist. 

Data Storage Policy

The data storage policy for Blackboard as approved by the University's  Teaching and Learning Committee specifies that the number of years data is stored on the  Blackboard environment is two years (i.e. the current and previous academic year).