Canvas: Course Shell Start and End Dates and the Extend Student Access Tool

Glassboro Main Campus On-the-Ground Courses

Canvas course shells for Glassboro Main campus On-the-Ground courses become available to students five days before the Banner course start date and automatically close to students 14 days after the course end date posted in Banner. Instructors can use the Extend Student Access tool to change the course end date in the portal, but only after the shell has been created.

The Extend Student Access tool enables instructors to extend a course past the 14 days to allow students additional time to access the course. Student access extensions open the course to all users. Canvas does not have the functionality to extend a course for individual students.

After a course has ended (Banner end date +14 days), instructors can still access the Canvas course shell, but will be unable to make any adjustments, updates, or entries in the Gradebook.

Extending the end date of the course does not affect any due dates or availability dates in the Canvas course. Instructors may need to manually extend due and/or availability dates of individual assignments to allow students to submit work during the extension.

Tutor and Observer access to the Canvas course starts and ends when student access to the Canvas course starts and ends.

Directions for using the Extend Student Access Tool are found below.

Online & Hybrid Courses

Online and hybrid courses become available to students five days before the Banner course start date and automatically close to students 90 days after the course end date posted in Banner.

If you are an online or hybrid instructor and wish to grant student access to your online or hybrid course beyond 90 days after the course end date posted in Banner, please submit a ticket in the Rowan Support Portal. Be sure to include either the URL or the CRN of the course that you wish to extend access to.

CMSRU / Stratford Campus

Instructors teaching courses at CMSRU or any of the schools on Stratford campus do not have access to the Extend Student Access tool in the Portal. 

Using the Extend Student Access Tool

Canvas course shells may be reopened to allow students who have been granted an Incomplete to submit their outstanding work. Once a course shell has been reopened, students will be able to submit outstanding work and the instructor will have the ability to make changes to the Gradebook. Remember: Instructors can only reopen a course through the end of the following term, per Rowan University's policy. Extensions beyond the following term (i.e., Fall 2024 through the end of Spring 2025) will require additional approval from the Registrar's Office. If an instructor needs to reopen a course after the end of the following term, they should submit a ticket in the Rowan Support Portal

To use the Extend Student Access tool in the Rowan Online Learning Portal and reopen a course, the instructor of record should take the following steps:

1. Log into the Rowan Online Learning Portal.
   
   
2. Navigate to My Courses and select the Extend Student Access tab.
   
   
   
3. Select the term the course belongs to and then click Apply.
   
   
   
4. Select the course you want to extend access to and then click the Extend Student Access button. Courses for that term will populate in the table. Remember: The Extend Student Access tool can only be used by the primary instructor after the shell has been created.
   
   
   
5. On the next screen, a message will appear verifying the current course end date. The span of dates that can be chosen will be displayed. Enter the date you wish to use as the Extension Date and then click the Extend Access button.
   
   
   
6. You will receive a confirmation message of your requested change. Please allow a few minutes for the changes to appear in Canvas.
   
   

Remember: Canvas is not the official grading record for Rowan University. Please ensure grade changes associated with the course have been properly submitted in Banner to coincide with access granted through the following term.

To reopen a course for an incomplete beyond the end of the next term, the instructor of record must submit a request in the Rowan Support Portal.

Please be aware of the following when submitting your request:

• Student access to a reopened shell cannot be limited to only those with an incomplete.
• Reopened course shells are available to all students enrolled in the course. If a course is part of a crosslisting, all students in all sections of the crosslist will have access to the reopened course.