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Quick Links: | Canvas Course Publishing Overview | Canvas Class Load Dates | General Schedule Guidelines |
Canvas Course Publishing Overview
Faculty may publish their Canvas courses at any time after initial course creation. Once a course is published, students will be able to access it immediately, although they will not be able to submit assignments until several days before the official start of the course.
If the course is unpublished, it will still appear in Canvas under Courses > All Courses, but students will not be able to access it until the instructor publishes it.
Canvas Class Load Dates
Winter 2026
- November 3: Course shells created in Canvas; faculty gain access
- December 23: Earliest date students can participate and submit in courses
- January 2: First day of classes
Spring 2026
- November 3: Course shells created in Canvas; faculty gain access
- January 10: Earliest date students can participate and submit in courses
- January 20: First day of classes
Summer 2026
- April 2: Course shells created in Canvas; faculty gain access
- May 22*: Earliest date students can participate and submit in courses
- June 1*: First day of classes
*Official start dates to be announced. This article will be updated once the Academic Scheduling office finalizes the 2026–27 Academic Calendar.
Fall 2026
- April 7: Course shells created in Canvas; faculty gain access
- August 14*: Earliest date students can participate and submit in courses
- August 24*: First day of classes
*Official start dates to be announced. This article will be updated once the Academic Scheduling office finalizes the 2026–27 Academic Calendar.
General Schedule Guidelines
This general schedule describes the typical timeline used for loading Canvas course data each term.
- Winter term: Faculty typically gain access around the first week of November. Students typically gain access 10 days before the start of term. These dates may be adjusted in coordination with Professional and Continuing Education.
- Spring term: Faculty typically gain access around the first week of November. Students typically gain access 10 days before the start of term.
- Summer term: Faculty typically gain access around the first week of April. Students typically gain access 10 days before the start of term. Note: Our data feed from PeopleSoft treats all Summer sessions as one term, so we work off the earliest session; however, course sections will still have start and end dates governed by data from PeopleSoft.
- Fall term: Faculty typically gain access around the first week of April. Students typically gain access 10 days before the start of term.
Still need help? Contact Academic Technologies for further assistance.
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