How do I use the Course Home Page as an observer?

If you are enrolled in a course as an observer, the Course Home Page helps you navigate your student's course and manage your student's coursework.

Note: Your student's teacher may choose to display a different font for your course.

Open Course

Open Course

In Global Navigation, click the Courses link [1], then click the name of the course [2].

View Course Home Page

The Course Home Page involves Course Navigation [1], the content area [2], and the sidebar [3].

View Course Navigation

View Course Navigation

The Course Home Page is viewed from the Course Navigation Home link.

Course Navigation includes links that help you and your student(s) get to specific locations in the course. Teachers can customize what links are shown in a course, so if you don't see links that may display in other courses, your student's teacher has hidden those links from your view.

The active link of the page you are viewing is highlighted with different color text and a line indicator. This highlight helps you quickly identify the feature area you are currently viewing in Canvas.

Collapse Course Navigation Menu

Collapse Course Navigation Menu

To expand or collapse the Course Navigation Menu, click the Menu icon. When you choose to expand or collapse the Global Navigation menu, your preference is applied to all of your courses.

View Content Area

View Content Area

Home Page content (and all Canvas content) is displayed in the content area.

The content can be a page, the syllabus, discussions, announcements, quizzes, or imported content [1]. The content can also show the Course Activity Stream, which is a list of all recent activity in the course. Your student's Home Page may also display recent announcements at the top of the page [2].

The Home Page content also defines what sections display in the sidebar.

View Breadcrumbs

View Breadcrumbs

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. You can follow these links backward to visit prior course content.

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.

View Sidebar

View Sidebar

The sidebar functions the same as the Dashboard sidebar but only shows content for the specific course and includes additional options.

If your Course Home Page displays a page other than the Course Activity Stream, you can view the student's course activity stream by clicking the sidebar View Course Stream button. When the Home Page is set as the Course Activity Stream, this button will not appear.

View Sidebar Sections

View Sidebar Sections

The sidebar shows the Coming Up section, which shows all your student's recent announcements and up to seven assignments that are due in the upcoming weeks, including ungraded quizzes and assignments that do not require a submission. Each item in the Coming Up list displays the assignment name, the number of points, and the due date for the assignment. Once the due date has passed, items remain in this section for four weeks.