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What Are Terms in Canvas?
In Canvas, a “term” is the length of time when a site is fully active. Courseware Support collaborates with the Courseware Advisory to determine a term’s duration.
When a course must start considerably earlier than a term should begin, that course can be placed in the “Penn Term,” which doesn’t have date restrictions, upon an instructor’s request.
Courses that run a full academic year can be placed in the “Academic Year” term upon an instructor’s request.
Canvas sites are fully available to all enrolled users (faculty, TAs, students, etc.) for the duration of a site’s associated term.
Teachers, TAs, and Designers are typically granted full access several months before the start of a term
Students are granted access a few weeks before the start of a term
What’s a “Concluded” Canvas Site?
A Canvas site “concludes” once a term ends.
Concluded sites are in a read-only state, which means all enrolled users, including instructors, can access content in the site but cannot perform actions (e.g., students can’t submit assignments in concluded sites).
Upon an instructor’s request, we can place a concluded site in the “Penn Term”to temporarily activate it when necessary.
Example “Penn Term” Scenario: A student with an “Incomplete” grade needs to submit work, so an instructor writes to Courseware Support (canvas@pobox.upenn.edu) and requests to have a site reactivated temporarily, which is done by placing it in the “Penn Term” in Canvas.
Sites should only be in the “Penn Term” for as long as need due to certain potential risks of leaving it active (e.g., a student who shouldn’t be able to perform actions does [e.g., submits an assignment]).
Concluded sites appear in the “Past Enrollments” list (Courses > All Courses). Concluded sites cannot be favorited (“starred”), which means they can’t be added as course cards to the User Dashboard.
Current & Upcoming Terms
| 202330 (Fall 2023) | |
| Term runs | August 15, 2023-January 6, 2024 |
| Students can access from | August 1, 2023-January 6, 2024 |
| Teachers can access from | Whenever-February 29, 2024 |
| TAs can access from | Whenever-February 29, 2024 |
| Designers can access from | Whenever-February 29, 2024 |
| 202410 (Spring 2024) | |
| Term runs | January 2, 2024-May 31, 2024 |
| Students can access from | January 2, 2024-June 30, 2024 |
| Teachers can access from | Whenever-June 30, 2024 |
| TAs can access from | Whenever-June 30, 2024 |
| Designers can access from | Whenever-June 30, 2024 |
| Academic Year 2023-2024 | |
| Term runs | August 1, 2023-May 31, 2024 |
| Students can access from | August 1, 2023-May 31, 2024 |
| Teachers can access from | Whenever-June 30, 2024 |
| TAs can access from | Whenever-June 30, 2024 |
| Designers can access from | Whenever-June 30, 2024 |
Last Updated: 20 Oct 2023