Canvas - Courses Do Not Show Up / My Course is Missing

Possible Reasons for a Canvas Course not Appearing

Instructors have control over when the Canvas course is made available to students, and some instructors may choose to not use Canvas for some courses. Always contact your instructor about the status of the course on Canvas first.

If you do not see one of your courses on your Canvas dashboard, please read this list of common reasons for why your course has not yet appeared:

1. Course is missing from the dashboard or course is still on the dashboard and you'd like it removed. To check for a course, navigate to Courses > All Courses from the global navigation bar along the left edge of any page in Canvas. Selecting the star next to a course will add it to the courses menu and your dashboard. Select it again to remove the star and remove the course from your dashboard. Please navigate to this Canvas Student Guide page for more information on customizing your Canvas dashboard: How do I customize my courses list as a student?

2. You added the course in SIS within the last 24-48 hours. SIS and Canvas integrate during an overnight process. Courses do not show up in Canvas immediately after registering in SIS. In most cases, a change made in SIS before 9pm will appear in Canvas the next morning. Changes made in SIS after 9pm will appear in two mornings. Dropped courses are also removed during these nightly processes. If you need an immediate copy of the syllabus or readings after a late enrollment, contact your instructor. The SIS-Canvas integration runs six nights a week; it does not run overnight Friday into Saturday, so enrollment changes made in SIS on a Friday (or after 9pm on a Thursday) will not appear in Canvas until Sunday morning. See the flowchart below for more information.

3. Course is offered in a different Learning Management System (LMS) or on a different platform (e.g. one provided by a textbook company). Students should check with their instructor(s) if they cannot find the course in Canvas. Instructors intending to use Canvas should verify their start dates and ensure that the instructional course (the version containing students from SIS) is "published." Navigate to this Knowledge Base article for more information: Canvas - Course Dates and Access FAQ and Information.

4. The course has not started yet. Courses do not appear before their start date unless set to do so by the instructor. In some cases, two courses that start on the same day can still have different start dates in Canvas. This is typically because the instructor of the one that does show up has set it to do so; otherwise courses do not show up until the day the class starts in SIS, and once the instructor has published the course. See the flowchart below for more information.

5. The course does not exist on Canvas, is not yet published, or is cross-listed. Check with your instructor first. Not all instructors use Canvas. Check with your instructor to ensure that you should be using Canvas or another platform to complete coursework. Some courses are cross listed (Humanistic Studies and History, for example); make sure you are looking for the right title. Some instructors may hold off on publishing a course until after the first few days of class for various logistical reasons. For Instructors: Navigate to this Canvas Instructor Guide page for more information on how to publish a course: How do I publish a course?

NOTE: The current deadline is 9:00P.M.