Moodle Course Reuse – Backup, Restore, and Import

This page contains instructions on how to transfer information from a previous course to a new one. If you are copying courses from previous academic years, you may find notable differences in how you backup courses from Moodle archive servers and restore those courses to the current Moodle server.  This is because of significant changes to Haverford's 23/24 Moodle version (Moodle 4.1), compared with previous Moodle versions used here.

If the course is from a previous term of the same academic year, skip to the instructions below for Importing a Course.

If the course is from a previous academic year, first backup old the course and then restore it to the new course.  Note:  This requires uploading your backup to the new course.  As with all uploads in Moodle, there is a file size limit of 250 MB.  If your file size is larger than that, please contact hc-techlearn@haverford.edu.

You can locate old courses as noted in our Moodle Long Term Archive/Retention Policy, described below.

 Moodle Long Term Archive/Retention Policy.

• Moodle courses taught in the previous three years will be available for you to review, backup, and restore into your current courses—although they may not be on the current Moodle server.
• Course materials on Moodle taught four to eight years ago will be available upon request from IITS, but may take up to a week to restore.
• Courses taught more than eight years ago will be deleted and no longer available from IITS. We recommend you keep your own archives of any materials you want to keep, in addition to the materials kept by IITS.

If the course is from a previous term of the same academic year, skip to the instructions below for Importing a Course.

If the course is from a previous academic year, follow the instructions to backup and restore the course.  Note:  This requires uploading your backup to the new course.  As with all uploads in Moodle, there is a file size limit of 250 MB.  If your file size is larger than that, please contact hc-techlearn@haverford.edu.

A Note to Off-Campus Users

To review or copy Moodle materials from courses in previous academic years, you must now either be physically on the Haverford, Bryn Mawr, or Swarthmore campuses OR use VPN software for your network access. IITS limits access to these servers because they are no longer eligible for security updates.

VPN is software that allows your remote network connection to emulate being on campus. If you have any questions about VPN, please see our VPN instructions or contact the ProDesk.

Backup the original course information

1. Select the old course you want to archive or copy into your new course site. You may need to use VPN and look on a Moodle archive server to find your course via the Moodlegroups/Moodle archives link at the top of the current Moodle course site.
   
2. Log into the Moodle server for the appropriate academic year and open the course you wish to backup or copy.
3. Choose Backup from the Course Administration menu. Depending on the Moodle version and theme of your course, you will either find this by clicking on the gear icon () in the top right corner of your course.
    
4. You will be prompted to select what you want to include in the backup or just keep the defaults and click Continue. NOTE: User data and grades will NOT be included in the backup. If you need to keep grade information, you can export grades via the grade book.
5. Click Continue. Note: The default file name includes the name of your course and the time and date of the backup.
6. Click Perform this backup at the bottom of the page.
7. The next page will say “The backup file was successfully created.”  Click Continue again.
   
8. You should now see the backup in your private backup area. (If you do not see a screen similar to the one illustrated below, click on the Restore link in the course administration block.) Click the link to download and save as desired in your local files.
   

Restore course information from a backup .mbz file

In Fall 2023, the Restore process changed slightly when we moved to Moodle version 4.1. The Restore option is now available via a new Course Reuse option. Instructions are below.

1. In Moodle, select the course to which you want to restore or materials from the archived course.
2. From the More menu, located below your course name, select Course Reuse.
   
3. Select the Restore option from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Upload or select the .mbz backup of the course you want to restore. If your file is larger than 250 MB, contact hc-techlearn@haverford.edu for help.
   
5. Click Restore. You will see a series of screens, starting with a verification of the items in your backup file. Scroll down and continue.
6. Select the restore options to merge your content into the current course. Continue.
   
7. You will be prompted with several more screens. Select desired options, and click next until your restore is complete.

Import course information from a previous course in the same academic year

Note: You must have the role of course builder, course support, or teacher in both the original and destination course sites to do this.

1. In Moodle, select the course to which you want to add the information.
2. From the More menu, located below your course name, select Course Reuse.
   
3. Select the Import option from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Select the course that you want to import and then click the continue button.
   
5. You will be prompted with several more screens. Select desired options, and click next until your import is complete.
6. You should now see the imported materials in the new course.