Estimated Time to Complete
6 minutes

Calendar, Course Navigation, and Syllabus Tool

Welcome to Lesson 4, where you'll learn to:

View and interact with the Calendar.
Navigate your courses.
Understand the Syllabus tool.

Tip: Videos too small? Click the double arrow on the player to watch it full screen.

Calendar

The Calendar lets you view all your course events in one place, plus you have a personal calendar to add your own entries. It's important to remember that the color you set for a course card on the Dashboard is the same color of the text for that course on your Calendar - don't enter the hex code for white on a card or you won't see the text on the calendar!

Watch the 2.5-min Calendar Overview video to see how to:

✔ Find the calendar and change the view by week, month, or agenda.

✔ Navigate to different dates and filter the calendars you see or hide.

✔ Schedule an appointment with your instructor if they have enabled this option.

✔ Enter personal or group calendar entries.

Note: If you change your language or locale preferences in Settings, the Calendar week start date may also change. Certain languages or locales change the Calendar week start date to Monday.

Course Navigation

The Courses link in Global Navigation shows all your course enrollments, while your Dashboard typically shows only your current courses. Once inside a course, there's three features to consider:

① Course Home Page

② Course Activity Stream

③ Immersive Reader

Course Home Page

Course Home Page has the Course Navigation on the left, a content area in the middle, and a sidebar on the right. The appearance and information depends on how your instructor has built the course.

The Course Navigation menu changes the color of the page you are currently viewing and shows an indicator when you have newly graded assignments. You can collapse the menu to maximize your viewing space.

Breadcrumbs appear above the course content area. As you view course content, the breadcrumbs leave a trail to show where you are inside the course. Note: If you have created a nickname for a course, the breadcrumbs display the nickname to identify the course. Otherwise, the breadcrumbs display the course code.

The sidebar functions the same as the Dashboard sidebar but only shows content for the specific course and includes additional options. If you have been added to a Group, a Course Group section will display.

Assignments submitted through Canvas disappear automatically from the To Do list; no-submission assignments (submitted on paper/in class) can only be removed from the list manually.

Course Activity Stream

The Course Activity Stream contains recent notifications in the course, including announcements, discussions, assignments, and conversations. This activity stream helps you see all recent activity in your course and easily ask questions and post to discussion forums. You can manage recent activity in a course the same way you can on the Dashboard. To remove a notification, click the remove X icon.

Note: If you stop participating in a discussion after two weeks, Canvas will no longer display discussion notifications.

Immersive Reader

The Immersive Reader enhances your reading experience by improving accessibility and boosting reading comprehension. You can use the Immersive Reader when viewing the Course Home Page or Syllabus or when viewing an individual assignment or page. For more information about the reader, visit the Microsoft Immersive Reader website.

Syllabus Tool

The Syllabus tool is a link in your course menu. It's built by your instructor and is a feature of Canvas beyond the syllabus document you receive with all your course expectations and outline. Instructors typically link their syllabus document within the Syllabus tool.

The Syllabus tool is automatically populated by assignments and calendar events in the course. In the Course Summary section, click the title to view the details of the assignment or event. Any assignments or events that are past the due date are highlighted in gray, while undated items are listed in alphabetical order.

Note: If you have set a specific time zone in your Settings, all course dates and times will display in your local time, but if you hover over the time, the course date and time is also displayed.

Canvas Guides

Calendar

Course Navigation

Syllabus