Create a new Canvas course site or change the expiration date for a course you created

• Before you begin
• Create a new course site in Canvas
• Change the expiration date for a course you created

Before you begin

Several months before the beginning of each semester, official courses for academic credit at Indiana University are provisioned automatically in Canvas through integration with the university's Student Information System (SIS). Consequently, if you're assigned to teach an official course, your course site in Canvas will be created automatically. Canvas users with Teacher, Co-Instructor, or Librarian roles can manually create additional course sites for other purposes (such as becoming familiar with course tools, development, and organization, creating master templates for courses, or delivering non-credit courses and other informal learning opportunities). By default, manually created courses expire one year after the date they were created.

Create a new course site in Canvas

To create a new course site in Canvas:

1. Log into Canvas.
2. Navigate to the Canvas Dashboard; for more, see How do I use the Dashboard as a student? (also applies to instructors).
3. In the sidebar to the right of the Canvas Dashboard, select Start a New Course. (This button is also available on the "My Courses" screen.)

   If you do not see the Start a New Course button, you do not meet the role restrictions for use of this feature, as stated above. For assistance, contact the Support Center.

4. Complete the "Start a New Course" form:
   • Course Name: Enter a descriptive name for your course. This is the name that will appear in the Courses menu and the "My Courses" screen.
   • Short Name: Enter a concise name or abbreviation for the course. This is the name that will appear as the heading on the course activity feed. It will also serve as the first element in the breadcrumb trail at the top of all pages in your course.
   • Content License: Choose the license that best applies to the majority of content in your course.

     If you choose a Creative Commons license, the appropriate CC logo will display in the footer of your course home page. For more about Creative Commons licensing, see How do I set a Creative Commons license for a course?.

   • Department, School, or College: From the drop-down menu, select the academic unit or location to which your course should belong. The drop-down menu will only show the academic units and Canvas accounts in which you are already enrolled as a Teacher, Co-Instructor, or Librarian. If you don't see your home department or college in the menu, contact the Support Center for assistance.

     Academic units begin with a two-letter campus abbreviation, followed by the subject area abbreviation used in course offerings from that unit (for example, BL-BUS, IN-EDUC). A "GRP" suffix indicates that the unit is a college or school (such as KO-HSS-GRP, NW-COAS-GRP).

5. When you have completed the "Start a New Course" form, choose Create Course.
6. You'll see a confirmation screen with a link to the course. Select the link to go directly to your new course.

Change the expiration date for a course you created

By default, manually created courses revert to read-only status for all site members exactly one year after the date of creation. You will receive email reminders approximately 30 days and seven days before the courses you own expire. To delay expiration, change the end date for the course at any time before it becomes read-only:

1. Log into Canvas.
2. Navigate to the appropriate course site.
3. From the course navigation menu, select Settings.
4. On the "Course Details" screen, find the "Participation:" field and set it to Course.
5. In the "End:" field, enter the desired end date for the course. This date can be earlier or later than the automatically generated course end date.
6. Choose Update Course Details. Your new end date is now in effect.

   You may also wish to refer to How do I change the start and end dates for a course?