One of the challenges facing both students and teachers is keeping track of all of the assignments planned throughout the term. Teachers are teaching multiple courses and students are learning in multiple courses. Every class has its own timeline for when things need to be done. The Calendar helps everyone stay on schedule and up to date. The calendar is linked to your personal account and therefore syncs with all courses in which your account is linked to. As a result, the calendar displays all courses you are enrolled in and allows you to view items (events and assignments) you have in all your courses.

Purpose of the Calendar

1. The Calendar is used for reminding students of graded Assignments with specific due dates.
2. The Calendar automatically syncs with other features in your course, such as Assignments, Syllabus, and Grades, so if you create, change, or delete the due date of an Assignment on the Calendar, it will show up in all the others and vice versa. You can change dates easily by dragging and dropping assignments from one date to another in the calendar.
3. The Calendar is a global feature, meaning you can see all of your assignments from all of your courses in one place. If your Calendar becomes too crowded, you can filter the number of events listed on your Calendar by selecting or deselecting courses in the Sidebar.

Accessing the Calendar

The calendar can be accessed from multiple areas of the course site.

Option 1: Open the Course Calendar

• Click the Settings link from the Course Navigation
• Select the Course Calendar button on the Sidebar

Option 2: Open the Course Calendar

• Click the View Calendar link on the Sidebar.

Option 3: Open the Global Calendar

• Click the Calendar link on the Global Navigation.
• From the Sidebar, choose the calendar you would like to view by clicking the check box next to the Calendar name.

Once you have navigated to the Calendar screen you can access the following options.

1. Calendar Window: Displays in the Month view.  Scheduled assignments and events will be listed on the date they are due.


2. Sidebar: Shows a quick-view calendar, your list of courses and groups and undated items of your courses and groups.

Each personal, course, and group calendar is identified by a separate color that populates the calendar view. Associated assignments for each course or group will appear within the calendar view for each calendar.

By default, all your course calendars and group calendars will be selected and appear in the calendar view. To hide a calendar, click the box next to the name of the calendar. Calendars that are not active within the calendar view will appear in gray.

Please Note: Colors are randomly assigned to each course; they cannot be changed.

Scheduling a Due Date

When scheduling a due date within the calendar, the due date applies to all students enrolled in the course.

Please Note: Scheduling a due date within the calendar only sets the due date and does not lock the exam.

To lock the quiz so that it cannot be taken after the due date has passed the Available dates must also be set. To set the assignment available dates, click on the assignment in the calendar and select the Edit link.

For the Edit screen, select the More Options button.

Set the Available From and Until dates and click the Save button.

If a student attempts to access the assignment after the due date and available date they will not be allowed.

Changing Due Dates

You can easily change the due date from within the calendar screen, by simply clicking on the item in the calendar and dragging it to the new date

Please Note: If the Available dates have been implemented, these dates must also be extended in order for students to be able to complete the assignment on the new due date.

Adding New Events/Assignments

Events

Events are different than Assignments in canvas. Events you create on the Calendar will not appear on the Assignments page or in the Gradebook. But they will show up on the Syllabus page and student calendars. You can create events with due date times as well as all-day events.

Calendar events may be considered a kind of Activity. For example, you may link to the readings that you want students to do in preparation for a class discussion in the Calendar. You will not grade students on whether or not they have done the reading, but you are providing the readings to them on a specific day to help them find the resources they need more efficiently.

An Event can be added by clicking on any date on the calendar.  Click the arrows next to the month name to navigate to a different month.  If you don't want to manually locate the date, you can click the Add Event link by placing your mouse on your course lists in the Sidebar.

From the Add Event screen select the Event tab and use the following options to create your event:

1. Enter a title for the event.
2. The date will already be entered, but you can change it if you like.
3. Specify the start and end time for your event.
4. Make sure that the correct course is selected in the Calendar drop-down.
5. Click the More Options button to link to files or other resources related to the event.
   

   

   
   If you click more options, you will be taken to the Content Editor [A]. Here you can add video, images, and links that will assist students as they prepare for the event [B]. Lastly, you will be able to Create the event.
   
   Please Note: Remember, events are not designed to be graded. If you want to hold students accountable for an extracurricular activity, you should create an Assignment, not an event.


6. Click Submit (If you selected More Options, click the Create Event button).

Assignments

You can create Assignment shells from the Calendar. Assignment shells are placeholders for the Assignment until you fill in the Assignment details. Assignments created on the Calendar will appear on the Assignments page and in the Gradebook.

To add an assignment from the calendar screen, click on any date on the calendar. Click the arrows next to the month name to navigate to a different month.  If you don't want to manually locate the date, you can click the Add Event link by placing your mouse on your course lists in the Sidebar.

From the Add Event screen select the Assignment tab and use the following options to create your assignment:

1. Enter a title for the Assignment.
2. The date will already be entered, but you can change it if you like.
3. Select calendar to put the assignment on from the Calendar drop-down.
4. Select the Assignment Group the assignment belongs to.
5. Click the More Options button to link to files or other resources related to the event.
   
   *By clicking on the More Options button, you have the ability to add more details to the Assignment as well as adding Links, Files, and/or Images.


6. Click Submit