Quick Tip: Handling Incompletes in Canvas

POSTED: Dec. 07, 2022


Do you have a student taking an incomplete this semester?  The most common way instructors handle incompletes in Canvas is to extend student access to their course beyond the end of the term so that the student can submit the remaining work.  Here’s how:

  • Extend the course participation dates
    Students can only participate in a Canvas course while the course is active.  The default start and end dates for Canvas courses are based on the university calendar.  Instructors can change the course participation setting from “term” to “course,” and then customize the start and end dates as desired.  Click the link above for instructions.
     
    • Did you know?  Once the course end date passes, the course enters a “concluded” state and instructors can no longer adjust their course dates.  If you need to extend a course after it is concluded, please reach out to the RCID team for assistance.
       
  • Deactivate other students (optional)
    Extending the course participation dates applies to all students in the course.  If you do not want the other students to be able to access the course, you can temporarily deactivate them.  Deactivating users revokes their access to the course entirely and remove their submissions/grades from the course until you reactivate them.  Click the link above for instructions.
     
    • Note: Make sure to only use the “Deactivate User” option; do not use the “Remove From Course” option.
       
  • Set new due dates for individual student
    You can set new availability and due dates for the individual student for any assignments, quizzes, etc. while keeping the original availability and due dates intact for everyone else.  We have included instructions for this at the end of this email.

 

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