How to Extend Course Access for One Student (Admin)

[Hildi_Pardo]

We are a a K12 District.  On occasion we have a unique situation where a student needs an extension to complete the year’s coursework. In our district, an extension to complete after the school year ends must be requested by the school’s Director of Counseling and approved by the Office of Academics.  If approved, the Canvas System Admin (me, at my district) takes several steps to make this happen.   Ideally, this request is made BEFORE the end of the Term, so the task can be completed before a course concludes.

But first let’s look at how to Extend a course for ALL Students in a course.

Extending a course for ALL Students in a course

Our semester and school year courses come with Term dates (as per the School Calendar, and our Canvas Terms).  But manually changing the Course Start and End dates changes the access for all members of the course.  In our district, Teachers have permissions to change their course dates.  If teachers have permissions to change their course’s Participation Start and End date, they can follow the steps listed below.   If Teachers do not have this permission, then someone with the correct System Admin Permissions would need to do it.

To extend access for ALL Students in a course, follow these steps (remember this must be completed before the course concludes):

1. Enter the Course and click on Settings
2. Under Participation, change Term to Course
3. Enter Start and End dates.  These will override the Term dates.
• Decide whether you want to check the box to Restrict students from viewing course after end date
4. Scroll down and click the blue Update Course Details button

Canvas Instructor Guide:  How do I change the start and end dates for a course?

Extending a course for only ONE Student in a course

Extending access for ONE Student only requires more steps and typically this task is completed by the Canvas System Administrator. 

NOTE:   If this request is made AFTER the course has concluded, a person with correct System Admin Rights will need to change the Course End dates first, before being able to edit the course with the steps listed below.   After completing the steps below, change the course dates back to how they were originally.

1. Enter the Course and click on Settings.
2. Hide the People link in the course menu.
   1. Under course Settings, click on the Navigation tag and HIDE the People link (this prevents other students from seeing the Extension section for this student).  Save.
3. Add a manually-created Section.
   1. Under Settings, click on Sections.  Add a New Section and name it – I like to name it something like: “Extend FLast until 8/11” so we have documented for who and for how long. (date must be before New school year starts to Sync)
   2. Click the Edit the Section button and enter Start and End dates for this Section.  You must enter BOTH dates.
      • For the Start date, I put the 1st day of 4th quarter as the start date
      • The End date must be a date BEFORE the Sync between our SIS and Canvas begins for the new school year.  To be safe, I like to enter a date no later than when our Summer School dates end.
   3. Click the Checkbox for:  “Students can only participate in the course between these datesWhen selected, the course section is in a read-only state outside these dates.”  (See image below)
   4. Click the Update Section button.Canvas Section Details
4. Click on People in the Course Menu and find the Student.  Click the kabob (3 vertical dots) to access options.  Select Edit Sections and add the Student to the new section (do not Remove the student from their original section).
5. Add the Teacher to the Section. This also will extend the Teacher’s access in the course.

BUT you are not done yet!!

SYSTEM ADMIN: Grading Periods

In System Admin we have to Extend the Fourth Quarter Grading Period through the last possible day, such as a week (or even a day) before we start syncing for the new school year.  If you do not do this, the teacher will not be able to add any new Assignments, or any new Due Dates.

• Go to Admin > your root Account > Grading.  Under Grading Periods, find and click to expand the applicable grading period. Click the pencil icon and change the "Close Date" to coincide with the new section "End Date". 

Edit Grading Period Dates

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Completion Communication

When the steps to extend for one student is completed, I like to inform all the stakeholders (especially the Teacher!) via an internal tech support ticket.  Here is a Sample Response:

• I hid the "People" tab -- this will prevent other students from seeing that a special Section was created for this student.
• You will see a section called "Extend HPardo until 8/11", and the student (FL) and the teacher (Jane) have been added to that Section.  That section currently has an End date of August 11 at 3pm.   At that time the Section will Conclude and the Student and Teacher will no longer be able to interact with the course. -- If you need this date changed (to an earlier date), please let me know.
• If you need to Assign anything new to this Student, you must assign it to the Section "Extend HPardo until 8/11"
• If there are Tests or Assignments that already were assigned, do not remove the Assign To that was previously added. Just ADD a new “Assign To” below it with the new Section to extend for this student.
• On the back end of Canvas, Fourth Quarter is extended through 8/11 so that any new assignments can still be created. If you need to create new Assignments, use a due date until 8/11
• Please let me know if there are any questions, or any issues, or if you need any support during the summer.

I hope you find this helpful! -HP