The course assignments page displays a list of all assignments in a course. As an observer, you can access the assignments page from your dashboard and in Course Navigation. You can also view assignments in the course Syllabus, Grades, Calendar, and Modules pages.
Open Assignments from Course Card Dashboard
You can quickly access the course Assignments page from your Canvas dashboard. On the course card, click the Assignments icon.
Open Course
In Global Navigation, click the Courses link [1]. Then click the name of the course you want to view [2].
Open Assignments
In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.
View Assignments
In Assignments, you can view all the course assignments.
By default, assignments are grouped by overdue assignments, upcoming assignments, undated assignments, and past assignments.
- Overdue Assignments: assignments and discussions with past due dates but that are still available, have not been submitted, and have not been graded.
- Upcoming Assignments: assignments, discussions, and quizzes that have an upcoming due date.
- Undated Assignments: assignments, discussions, and quizzes that do not have a due date.
- Past Assignments: assignments and discussions that are past the due date and either are not available, have been submitted, or have received a grade; quizzes that are past the due date.
Each assignment also includes an icon with the assignment type: assignment [1], discussion [2], or quiz [3].
Note: The Assignments page supports keyboard shortcuts. To view a window with a list of keyboard navigation shortcuts, press the Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously on your keyboard.
View Assignment Summary
Each assignment displays the assignment name [1], any availability dates for the assignment [2], due date (if any) [3], and the number of points the assignment is worth [4].
View Availability Dates
The first dates you may see are called availability dates. Sometimes an instructor only wants students to submit an assignment during a specified date range, so the available dates are the range of time that the assignment is accessible to students.
- If the assignment does not have a date listed, the assignment is open; students can submit the assignment at any time during the course [1]
- If the assignment says Available until [date], students can submit the assignment until the specified date [2]
- If the assignment says Not Available Until [date], the assignment is locked until the specified date [3]
- If the assignment says Closed, the assignment cannot accept submissions [4]
Note: If the listed date is set to 12 am the last day for the assignment to be submitted is the full day before the listed date. For instance, if an assignment is Available until December 15, you can access the assignment until December 14 at 11:59 pm.
View Due Dates
An assignment may also display a second set of dates. These are assignment Due dates [1]. Assignments submitted after the due date are marked as late; some instructors may deduct points for late submissions. Again, not all assignments may include a Due date.
Students can still submit late assignments before the Available until date.
Please be aware that the Due date may be before or on the Available date.
Due dates also include a time [2]. If your student's instructor does not set a due time, the listed date displays the course's default due time.
Filter Assignments
If your student's course includes Multiple Grading Periods, you can view assignments by grading period [1]. You can search for an assignment by typing an assignment title or a keyword in the Search for assignment field [2]. You can also group assignments by type [3].
Open Assignment
To view the details for an assignment, click the name of the assignment.
View Open Assignment
You can view the due date, points, and accepted submission type(s) for the assignment [1]. Not all assignments may have a due date.
You can also view additional details:
- Instructions [2]: any instructions from the instructor about the assignment. Please note that you cannot download assignment instructions unless your instructor has included a link to download them. You can also print the screen or copy and paste the directions into a word processing program, or you can also view the assignment in the Canvas mobile app.
- Rubric [3]: any grading criteria that the instructor has provided for the assignment. An assignment may or may not include a rubric. Before submitting your assignment, you may want to review the assignment rubric.
For example, an assignment may have a due date but may not list any other dates. If your student misses an assignment due date, they may still submit the assignment for late credit before the last day of the course. If the assignment does not have a due date, you can submit the assignment at any time before the last day of the course.
View Assignment with Availability Dates
The assignment details may include availability dates. Availability dates may include a first available date (open date) [1], last available date (locked or closed) [2], or both dates to create an overall date range. If the assignment has a due date [3], it may be before or on the last available date (if one is set).
Once the last date passes, students can no longer submit the assignment.
View Assignment with Limited Attempts
The course instructor may limit the number of submission attempts students are allotted for an assignment. If an assignment has a limited number of submissions, you can view the number of submission attempts your student has made [1] and the number of submission allowed for the assignment [2].
View Locked Assignment
An assignment can be locked before an instructor wants it open. When an assignment is locked, you can view date when the assignment unlocks [1] and the assignment the rubric (if any) [2].
View Closed Assignment
Assignments close when they are only available until a specific date. When an assignment is closed, you can still view assignment submission details [1], the date the assignment was locked to submissions [2], and the rubric [3].
