There are three publishing states for Canvas:
- Unpublished (default) - The course is inactive and students will not be able to view it.
- Published – Your course is available for students to view.
- Concluded - We do not recommend that you conclude your course. Concluding a course archives the course material and creates a "read-only" state for both instructors and students. This means, as the instructor, you would not be able to modify grades.
Prior to publishing your course, you must set a course home page.
To publish your course, click the Publish button located on the right-hand sidebar of your course homepage. Be sure that you also publish your assignments, pages, and other instructional materials so students can access them.
Message Students Before a Course is Published
Your course must be published if you would like to message the class using the Canvas Inbox. If you would like to send a message to your students through Carmen before you are ready to open your course, we recommend setting course term dates and then publishing the course.
Setting course term dates allows you to limit student access to the course while retaining your ability to modify grades and send messages.
When published, course activity is dictated by the dates and status of course assignments and modules. Individual assignments, modules, or other course content can be individually locked (made unavailable to students) or assigned a date in the future, prior to which students will not be able to see or participate in said course component.