What is it?
Penn has developed a virtual shopping period in Canvas so that students can “visit” different courses as they finalize their course selections for the Spring. This feature will be available starting on the first day of classes, Wednesday, January 12th through Tuesday, January 25th, the last day to add a class.
Students will be able to access the visible courses through Penn InTouch via a link available on the course listing. When students are visiting a course’s Canvas site, it is not the same as being registered for the course. Students accessing a course through this process will not appear on the Canvas course roster and they will not be able to participate in the course discussions or submit assignments. Students who access a course’s Canvas site while not enrolled in the course will need to ask the instructor for permission to “sit in” on any synchronous class sessions.
The default visibility setting for Canvas course sites is Course so that only enrolled students have access. During the virtual shopping period, the visibility setting will be changed to Institution. After the virtual shopping period, visibility settings will be reverted back to Course.
What courses does it apply to?
All undergraduate courses in Annenberg, the College, Engineering, Nursing, and Wharton. Graduate courses may also be participating. For a course to be visible, an instructor must also have published their course in Canvas.
Instructors are encouraged to publish their Canvas sites before January 12th so that they will be available at the start of the shopping period. Instructors who have published their course will be able to opt out of having their course visible by changing a setting that they control.
How can students access courses?
- Go to Penn In Touch
- Navigate to Registration & Planning > Course Search
- Search for a course
- Click on the Course ID
- In the Course Details window, participating courses will have a field labeled Penn@Canvas which will include a link to the Canvas site
As an instructor, how can I opt out of this process for my course?
Before January 12th
Contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu
After January 12th
- In your Canvas site, go to Settings > Course Details > Visibility
- Change the Visibility to “Course”
- Click Update Course Details to save
Who should I contact with questions?
Please contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu with any questions.
Last Updated: 13 Jan 2022