How Do I Restrict Student Access to an ELMS-Canvas Course at the End of the Semester?


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There are several tools available in ELMS-Canvas to restrict student access to course content after the semester ends. Two options: Set End Date and Conclude Course have similar impacts on students, but differ in the way they impact instructor access.

Set course end date

This option moves the course from the students' active enrollments list to their Past Enrollments list after the End date passes. However, students can still view the content (including files, assignment prompts, discussions and quizzes and grades) in a read-only state. When a Set End Date restriction is enabled by instructors, the instructor, teaching assistant and course designer can still interact with the content in the space after the End Date, including managing the grade book. Here are the steps to set an end date.

  1. Click on the Settings link in the course navigation menu.
  2. Click on the Course Details tab.
  3. Scroll down to the Participation: field.
  4. Choose "Course" from the Participation menu.  This action will reveal Start and/or End date fields.
  5. Locate the Ends: field and select a date.
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Update Course Details link.

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Add access limitations

If you set an End date for the course and do not want students to be able to view the course at all, you can restrict students from viewing prior courses. To set a default so that students cannot access the course after the course end date, even in a read-only state, select the Restrict students from viewing courses after end date checkbox. This checkbox is available via the Settings link in the Course Details tab. It can be selected after you select an End date.

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Conclude a course

The Conclude course option also moves the course from the students' active enrollments list to their Past Enrollments list, but still enables students to have read-only access to the content. If this option is enabled, instructor-based roles will no longer have interactive access to the course and will result in instructor loss of course functionality and access to user information, such as SIS data and the grade book. Here are the steps to conclude a course.

  1. Click on the Settings link in the course navigation menu.
  2. Click on the Course Details tab.
  3. Click on the Conclude this Course link in the Course Settings panel.
  4. Confirm the action by clicking on the Conclude Course button. A message will open to confirm the conclusion of your course.

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