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Year-end procedures

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Where Moodle is used in an academic environment, such as a school or university, it is useful to have procedures in place for removing students and teachers who have left and moving current students "up" a year while ensuring all essential work is preserved.

Year end planning - things to consider

  • When will this be done? At the end of the term(semester)? During the break? Many establishments find it easier to perform admin tasks during the holidays when fewer students and teachers are accessing Moodle. It might be advisable to put the site into Maintenance mode while this is being done.
  • Will students who have left at the end of the current year be removed permanently or will their details need to be retained for a period of time? This will depend on the policies of on your own establishment or education authority.
  • Teachers and other staff members who have left will also need removing from the site.

Backing up (archiving) courses

Courses may be made copied for archiving by using the Course backup feature and including user details (ie, assignment submissions, forum posts etc) (Note that this would be done by the administrator, as a regular course teacher is not allowed, for security reasons, to back up courses with user details.) The courses can then be stored either externally on a disc or within Moodle in a category named, for instance, "Archives" which can be hidden from regular users.

Resetting the courses

Once a course has been backed up for safekeeping, it can be reset by clicking the link in Settings>Course administration>Reset This removes all user data from a course but keeps the activities themselves ready to start afresh with students who will then be enrolled for the new academic year.

Next year planning - things to consider

  • How will new students and new teachers access their courses? They will need both accounts creating and enrolment into their courses. Which methods of Authentication and Enrolment will best suit your needs?
  • Likewise, how will existing teachers and students access their new courses?

See also