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Canvas at Fresno State

Timeline and Processes

Course Creation

Canvas shells are automatically created for all courses six weeks before instruction begins. Course creation ENDS after census date and it then becomes a manual process per request. Courses are created as 'unpublished'. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make the course available for student access.

Instructor Assignment

Instructor assignments are automatically generated through PeopleSoft. This process starts 6 weeks before instruction begins and ends after census date.

Student Enrollments & Disenrollments

Two weeks before instruction begins, students who have a Fresno State email account are automatically enrolled in their Canvas courses. This process takes place on a daily basis and ENDS after census day. It then becomes a manual process per request. 

Students who drop courses will be made ‘inactive’ in Canvas during the next update from PeopleSoft. The official class roster is always in PeopleSoft.

User Account Creation/Update

FACULTY accounts are automatically created along with their email account and class assignment.

STUDENT accounts are automatically created after they activate their Fresno State email by logging into their email account and once they officially enroll in a course.

Cross-listing (combine) Courses

This process begins 2 weeks before instruction begins and ends after the first week of instruction. Completing this request form combines separate course sections into one Canvas course shell. Once grades have been added, this cross-listing cannot be undone.

Course Availability

It is the responsibility of the instructor to publish the course for student access. 

Courses become read-only 1 week after grades are due. After that date, faculty can access content through Courses > All Courses > Past Enrollments. Faculty are able to end the course before that date if desired: Setting > Course Details > Ends: > add ending date > Check 'Students can only participate in the course between these dates' > Update Course Details.

*census day: the last day to ADD CLASS with PERMISSION. Please refer to the current academic calendar.