Blackboard Course Rollover

• What is Course Rollover?
  • When are courses set up?
  • What actions do I need to take?
• 1. Prepare & check:
  • Can you see your courses for the coming year?
  • Staff enrolments.
  • Merged or Supplementary Courses.
• 2. Review, re-use and create:
  • Copy content from another course.
  • Upload, replace & delete content.
  • Edit settings, dates & availability.
  • Make your content accessible.
• 3. Enable the YuJa video channel and publish to it.
• 4. Update the Online Reading List.
  • Clear copyrighted digital & scanned texts.
• 5. Make the course available to students

What is Course Rollover?

• Course Rollover is the annual process for scheduling and creating courses for the coming academic year in Blackboard based on the modules in RISIS.
• A new blank course shell is created each year using the institutional template.
• You can select and copy content from a previous course or uploaded materials to create the course following the template.
• Organisations are not part of Rollover. They run continuously.

When are courses set up?

• Course shells are released on Blackboard at the end of April for the coming academic year.
• A course is created in Blackboard if it is scheduled to run in RISIS for the coming academic year.
• Supplementary courses are not automatically set up and need to be requested each year (as they do not appear in RISIS).

What actions do I need to take?

• The Module Convenor or lead teacher should undertake or coordinate the following steps after the release of the course shells.
• Where teaching on a module is shared by colleagues or team taught, agree ahead of time who is undertaking which steps or copying / creating specific content and communicate this to each other.
• Programme Administrators set up Assessments (Assignments & Digital Exams) in courses.
• Ask for advice or support from CQSD TEL team if you are unsure what to do. Contact us using dts@reading.ac.uk or the DTS Self Service Portal.

1. Prepare & check

Can you see your courses for the coming year?

• Staff are automatically enrolled if the course ran in the previous academic year and had an Instructor or Teaching Assistant role.
• The Module Convenor listed in RISIS is automatically enrolled.
• If you cannot see a course, ask to be enrolled. Contact the Module Convenor or Programme Administrator to enrol you.

Staff enrolments

• Add or remove colleagues.
• Apply an appropriate course role.

Merged and Supplementary Courses

• What are Merged and Supplementary Courses and how do they work?
• Merged courses:
  • Previously merged courses are re-created each year using the same module codes.
  • Review codes used in existing Merged Courses. (Login: University ID and Password.)
  • Request a new Merged Course. (Login: University ID and Password.)
  • To edit or remove an existing merge, please contact DTS Self-Service Portal or email DTS. 
• Supplementary Courses:
  • Supplementary course shells are not re-created each year and need to be requested.
  • Request a Supplementary Course.

Important: Wait until a new merge request or edit has been completed before starting to setup your course. Requests should be made ahead of students using the courses. 

2. Review, re-use & create

• Use the Course Template guide to locate information and materials to give your students a predictable digital learning experience.
• If you are re-using content from a previous course, consider what needs to be updated, re-organised or re-designed to inform your approach.

To add content into the new course shell you may want to:

Copy content from another course

• You will need to be enrolled in both courses to copy content between them.
• Essential guidance: How and when to copy content into the course template.
• Do not copy an entire course, this can lead to the duplication of inaccurate materials and cause additional work for you and Support Centre colleagues.
• How to use the copy content tool.
• Advice on copying specific types of content.
  • Copying Online Reading List links

Upload, replace & delete content

• Add content (including how to add Folders and create Documents)
• How to Upload Files.
• How to replace files that have been copied.
• Click the ‘More options’ button (three dots) to the right of a content item to Edit or Delete.
• Use Batch Edit to delete multiple items in one go.
• Fully delete any unused files from the course after you’ve finished.

Edit setting, dates and availability

• Click the ‘More options’ button (three dots) to the right of a content item to edit it and update any settings.
• Edit release conditions to make content visible to students.
• Use Batch Edit to bulk edit visibility of content to students.

Make your content accessible

• Create accessible content shows some simple ways to check and make your digital content easier to use.

3. Enable the YuJa video channel and publish to it

• Click the ‘YuJa (Video channel)’ link in the course. This creates a video channel for the course (the first time it is clicked) and lets you publish your videos to the course channel.
• Do this in every course you are teaching on.

4. Update the Online Reading List

• Check and update the course’s Online Reading List after the annual ‘Library Reading List Rollover‘ takes place at the end of June for the coming academic year. (UK Campus courses only.)

Clear copyrighted digital & scanned texts

• Use the Library’s Scanning Service to digitise any print texts and articles to meet copyright and accessibility legal requirements.
• Contact your Academic Library Liaison for further assistance.

5. Make the course available to students

• When it’s ready, make your course available to students.
• Make courses available before teaching on the module begins.
• Students are automatically enrolled in the Course as soon as they are enrolled in the module on RISIS. Do not add students manually.

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Guide last updated on May 13, 2026