Academic year roll-over a brief guide for staff

About the academic year

The academic year runs from 1st August through to 31st July.

Around academic year end (31st July) there are a number of processes that need to be managed behind the scenes to enable students to maintain access to their appropriate resources from the previous year. During the roll-over period the platforms supporting learning & teaching (Moodle, Talis, Echo360 etc.) identify from the central records system (SITS) the courses (CRS) and modules (MAV) set to run in the upcoming year. Reading from SITS these platforms create the framework of course and module instances ready to support the new academic year.

Moodle roll-over

Each WMS module and course is supported by a Moodle space: essentially a space where one or more teachers can add activities or learning resources for their students.

Module and course Moodle spaces are all based on the standard Moodle templatesLink opens in a new window.

Moodle spaces for the upcoming academic year become available to develop in July/August.

Q. What will happen to Moodle spaces at the end of an academic year?

Moodle spaces are archived with student enrolments frozen. This allows students retain access to their Moodle spaces for as long as their University accounts remain active.

Standard practice for MB ChB Moodle spaces

MB ChB curriculum is delivered through an integrated design and is not modular. The MB ChB module Moodle spaces enable support of each cohort through an entire phase of the MB ChB curriculum. Academic leads in the MB ChB education team are therefore working collaboratively and iteratively in shared Moodle spaces developing content and activities over a 12 to 24 month time period. The architecture and communications with phase teams have been developed to accommodate the specific requirements of these module Moodle spaces.

Standard practice for contacting PGT academic leads (Module Tutors in SITS)

Academic leads are emailed a prompting message prior to the scheduled start date for their module. This email reminders academics about updating their Moodle space, contains a direct link to the Moodle space and signposts support available.

Talis Aspire Reading Lists roll-over

In preparation for new academic year a draft Talis AspireLink opens in a new window list will be produced and academic leads must go into the list to review and add new books or resources.

Please note that the library are only ordering books and resources that have been added to a published Talis list.

If academics can suggest alternative texts where a preferred text is not available as an e-book, that is helpful for the students if we remain online (and indeed if we don't). The library will buy print copies if no e-version is available but these will only be available to those on campus.

Q. What does this means for me?

A. Updates for the coming academic year should now be made to the draft lists. Academic leads will be required to act and publish these lists to make them available to students. You may want to add the new published version of your lists to ‘My Lists’ in Talis Aspire.

Q. What will happen to the older lists?

A. The library intend to archive these lists although they will still be accessible to students where they have the link to the list. Archive lists can be copied and published again if needed.

Any further questions?

Useful contacts

Moodle academic year roll-over please email WMS Academic Technology team wms.moodle@warwick.ac.uk

SITS course, module, student & staff records please contact the SITS Team, Student Records or Exams Office.

Talis Aspire Reading lists, please email Sam Johnson our Academic Support Librarian Samantha.A.Johnson@warwick.ac.uk