Ensuring Course Visibility Outside of the Academic Calendar

The University of Florida recently changed how long after the end of a semester that course sites can accessed and edited. In the past, students could participate in a course only up to one week after grades were submitted, while instructors could access and make changes to a course site for up to one year after a term ended. Now, while students still cannot participate in a course shortly after grades have been submitted, instructors can access but not edit a course site once the post-grade-submission grace period of about one week has passed. This change was instituted to ensure that instructors could not inadvertently or intentionally change a course site after a course has ended. It also ensures your course site drops to the Past Enrollments section of your and your students’ All Courses page in Canvas.

However, this change causes problems for courses that do not fall within UF’s normal Academic Calendar. Once a course is closed for editing, you will be able to access it in the Past Enrollments section, but you will not be able to make any changes to the course, including re-opening the course for students. At that point, only administrators can re-open a course site.

Luckily, Canvas enables you to control when you and your students can access, edit, and participate in your course site. Read on to learn more about the quick, four-step process you can complete before the start of each semester to prevent access issues from happening.

Step 1. In the course site menu, click on Settings:

Step 2. Click on the Course Details tab. To override the UF Academic Calendar start and end dates, update the following settings:

• Start Date: Indicated by the green arrow shown below, this date and time is when you want students to be able to access your published course site.
• End Date: Indicated by the blue arrow, this date and time is when you want students to no longer be able to participate in your course site. They will be able to view course site components, but will no longer be able to post Discussions, complete Assignments, or otherwise participate in your course. This date also controls when you can continue to make edits to your course site.
• User Participation: Indicated by the red arrow, this box allows you to override the University’s Academic Calendar start dates. You must check this box or the start and end dates you entered will not go into effect.

Step 3. If you want to control the visibility of your course site, you can check or uncheck the below boxes:

For more information on what these options entail, visit the View Visibility section of the How do I manage the options in the Course Details tab? page of the Canvas Instructor Guide.

Step 4. Once you have finished adjusting your course site’s visibility settings, save these changes by clicking the Update Course Details button found on the bottom of the Course Details page:

For tips and suggestions on how to control the visibility and access of other course site components, such as quizzes and files, visit the Options for Access and Visibility in Canvas post.

If you need assistance with completing the above steps, call the UF Help Desk at 392-HELP (Option 3) or email teach@warrington.ufl.edu.