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Overview
Courses are created two months before the start of every semester. Official course creation dates can be found on the Canvas Key Dates page.
Start and End dates control student participation in your course site. By default, all courses are set to specific Term dates - two weeks before the official first day until two weeks after final grades are submitted.
After the End Date, students will retain read-only access to course materials, unless that course is set to restrict student access altogether beyond the End Date (see below).
Instructions
If you want your students to participate in the Canvas course earlier than two weeks before the official first day of classes, or if you want your students to participate in the Canvas course beyond two weeks after final grades are submitted, please contact the Canvas Support Team with the dates you would prefer. The Canvas Support Team will contact the Office of the University Registrar for approval, and once that approval is received the dates will be changed to match what was requested. If the request is denied by the Registrar, the requested change will not be made.
Please note: In the case of keeping a Canvas course open to accommodate student Incompletes, the information needed is slightly different; please see Managing Student Incompletes in Canvas.
Restricting Student Access to a Published Course
Additionally, instructors can choose to limit course visibility either before the Start Date, after the End Date, or both. For example, in the example below, students will not be able to access the course, even if it is published, until January 10th at 1:00 pm. The students will no longer be able to upload Assignments, participate in Discussions or participate in Conversations after May 31 at 11:59 pm.
As with Start Dates and End Dates, instructors can contact the Canvas Support Team to request that the Restrict Student Access check-boxes be selected as needed.