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. In Spring 2026 Course Shopping will run from Wednesday, January 14 to Thursday January 29.
Students will be able to access the visible courses through Path@Penn 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 attend any 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”.
Read more about which courses the shopping period applies to, how students can access them, and how instructors can opt out for their courses on the Course Shopping page.
Who should I contact with questions?
Please contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu with any questions.