Prepare for new academic year guide

Moodle 4

All modules for the 2025/26 academic year will be created in Moodle 4, which can be found at moodle4.city.ac.uk.

SITS modules

All 2025/26 SITS modules must first be created on SITS and the modules will become available on Moodle within 24 hours.
Lecturer enrolments will be copied over from 2024/25 modules on a weekly basis from start of July to September. Any additional Lecturer enrolments/unenrolments on modules should be handled as normal through the schools' Course Office teams

Meta modules

Non-SITS modules which take enrolments from SITS modules (using the course meta link enrolment method in Moodle) will be available in Moodle from 23 June 2025, providing they were in use in 2024/25.

Staff will need to recreate any enrolments by adding new course meta links. 

If MDL modules are taking enrolments from SITS coded modules, please note that these SITS modules will be visible to students on the default term start date or on the date populated in the Date for first class field in e:Vision. If you do not want students to access these SITS modules, you will need to manually hide them via module settings so that they are not available to students.

Generic modules

Generic modules (shortcodes starting GEN, such as Programme module spaces) which take enrolments from business rules will be available in Moodle from 23 June 2025, providing they were in use in 2024/25.

Each generic module must have a corresponding business rule to describe how enrolments are managed. Business rules that were used in 2024/25 will be applied to 2025/26 modules. IT send details of business rules applied to Heads of Academic Services in Schools to check for any changes. Changes required to the rules, need to be requested via Generic Service Request form on IT Self Service Portal.

You can request new generic modules using the Request Non SITS Moodle module form on the IT Self Service Portal.

• Lecturer enrolments will be copied over from 2024/25 modules on a weekly basis from July to September.
• If you require urgent access to any 2025/26 module, a course officer with Programme Administrator access can enrol you on the module.
• If you are teaching on a module for the first time, a course officer with Programme Administrator access can enrol you on the module.
• Any additional Lecturer enrolments/unenrolments on modules should be handled as normal through the schools' Course Office teams.
• If modules are new for the 2025/26 academic year, the schools' Course Office teams will need to manually enrol staff as Lecturers
• You can copy over other staff enrolments (e.g. Observers, Teaching Assistants) during the rollover process.

Most taught modules will be created using the Custom sections format. Your taught modules (including SITS, GEN and MDL) should use a consistent format to support students in navigating through modules and locating important information.

You may wish to turn off some of the features when not required for generic modules (such as the Timetable link and Reading List link).

Turn Edit Mode on and select the eye icon alongside the relevant links to show or hide them on the Module dashboard. 

Related guidance

Your students will be automatically enrolled on SITS modules on completion of their registration. Enrolment for non-SITS modules is managed in one of two ways:

1. Through business rules.
   A business rule specifies a set of conditions (e.g. level of study and department) which, if met, will enrol a student on a module upon registration. Business rules that were used in 2024/25 will be applied to 2025/26 modules. If there are any changes required to the rules, please log a request on the IT Self Service Portal.
2. Via course meta link enrolments from SITS modules
   These SIT modules must exist, but can be hidden in Moodle. Meta course enrolments (where enrolments are taken from another module) are not automatically copied or rolled over. These must be created manually each year by schools' Course Office teams. We cannot automate this as each year meta course enrolments differ.

Related guidance

SITS modules

If a module start date for the new academic year is not entered into SITS when the Moodle 4 module is created, it will become available to students on the following dates:

• Term 1: 25 August 2025
• Term 2: 5 January 2026
• Term 3: 4 May 2026

Other modules

GEN modules (which take enrolments from business rules) and MDL modules (which take enrolments from meta links) are set to Hidden by default and you will need to manually make these visible in time for the start of the academic year.

1. In the Module overview block, a notification hidden from students displays underneath the module title when a module is hidden from enrolled Students and Student Observers.
2. When you open a module, the text - This module is currently hidden. Only enrolled staff members can access this module when hidden. You can change the visibility in the module settings - will display below the contextual navigation menu if it is hidden from enrolled students and student observers.
   • Staff enrolled on the module will still be able to access and design the module while it is hidden.
3. To make the module visible to students, Select the Module settings link within the text. 

Set a module start date

If you want the module to become visible at a certain date in the future you will need to add/amend the Module start date.

1. Select Settings from the contextual navigation menu to open the module settings.
2. Change Module visibility to Hide.
3. Change the Module start date to the module go live date.

   

4. Scroll to the end of the page and select Save and display.