Skip to Main Content

Reading Lists in Canvas

Information supporting the use of the Reading List app in Canvas.

Video - Rolling over a Reading List

Learn how to save time and reuse your Reading Lists again in the future. This video explains why Reading Lists need to be rolled over into the next semester's Canvas course shell and how to do this. Learn how to rollover your Reading List into a new course shell and how to publish the list so it is visible to your students.

Reading Lists: 4. Rollover (4:26 mins), RMIT Library Teaching & Research, Microsoft Stream (RMIT login required)

  1. Reading Lists must be rolled over, a process that is not part of the Canvas course rollover.
  2. The rollover of a Reading List must be for the same course code, e.g. BESC1408_2150 to BESC1408_2250.
  3. To rollover a Reading List you must be a Collaborator (see step 1).
  4. A rolled over Reading List is in draft, publish the list to make it visible to students (see step 3).

How to rollover a Reading List

You can save time and re-use your Reading Lists again in the future. Be careful not to delete the list at the end of the teaching period for the course as it will not be recoverable.

Instructors and collaborators can re-use Reading Lists for the same course with a new term code. It is a separate process to the Canvas rollover.

1. Locate the current/old Reading List that you want to rollover

Go to 'Lists' and search for the Reading List you want to rollover. Select the Reading List title to open the list.

Reading List view - List button

2. Select 'Roll Over list'

In the Reading List view, select the ellipsis […] in the top right-hand corner under the list title to display the Reading List options menu. 

Select 'Roll Over list'

Menu option: Roll over list

3. A Roll Over pop-up window appears

Enter the course code that you want to roll your list over TO.

Available courses will start appearing as you type.

Select 'OK'.

If the new course is not provisioned in Canvas yet, it may not be available to select.

Screen shot: Roll over pop-up window. Example text entered in in search box LIBR101

4. The 'Roll Over' settings window will pop up

The old Reading List name will appear. Edit the Reading List name to change the term code from the previous offering to match the new term code you selected.

E.g. ‘The Professional Experience (1910)’. Change it to ‘The Professional Experience (1950)’

You must leave the default options to enable the citations to roll over without error.

Permalinks and LTI links in the new Canvas shell will point to the rolled-over list.

Select 'ROLL OVER'

Screen shot: 'Roll Over' settings pop up window. Reading List name field name highlighted with a red box. ROLL OVER button highlighted with a red box

5. A Warning window will pop up

“The original course is still active. If you continue, the original Reading List will no longer be available using existing permalinks, which now point to the new list. Continue?”

This indicates that permalinks in the old Canvas modules that point to items in the original Reading List will cease to work once the Reading List is rolled over. You can be reassured that the permalinks within the new rolled-over Canvas modules will be active and connect to resources in the rolled-over Reading List.

Confirm by selecting 'OK'

Screen shot: Example warning pop up text: List The Professional Experience (1910) will be rolled over to new The Professional Experience (1950). The original course is still active. If you continue, the original reading list will no longer be available using existing permalinks, which now point to the new list. Continue? OK button highlighted with a red box.

6. A confirmation window will pop up

Select 'CLOSE'

Screen shot: confirmation window example text: Example below "List The Professional Experience (1910) was rolled over to new The Professional Experience (1950) (Rolled over) in course The Professional Experience (1950)

7. Edit the list header

The rolled over list is now available with a 'DRAFT' status in the new canvas shell. Usage analytics are re-set to zero.

Edit the Reading List header to reflect the new title and term code. You can remove the text '(Rolled over)'.

The Reading List description field is inherited from the older list. Edit the field to update the new term details.

8. Publish the Reading List to your students

Access the Reading List in the new/current course shell. The Reading List will have a DRAFT status and needs to be PUBLISHED to be visible to students.

Before you publish, you can add new citations to the list and send them to the Library for review or delete citations that are no longer required.

Select 'Publish'

A 'Publish List' window will appear. Select the 'Course students' radio button, then select 'CONFIRM'