How do I restrict access to my course site after the term?

You have a few options for restricting access to your course site at the end of the term, depending what and how much you want to restrict, and who you want to restrict access to.

If you choose any of these options, it may be helpful to let your students know, so that they can download all the materials they need before losing access. You should also let the rest of your teaching team know that you are restricting course site access, since it may affect their work and access to the course site and its materials in case they would like to use it in another class.

Option A: Set course end date ("soft conclude")

If you don’t want students to participate in the course site (“participation” means that students can submit assignments, post discussions, upload files, or take part in any other action-based task within a course), but still be able to view its contents, then you will want to (1) navigate to the course settings page (2) set the "Participation" option to "Course" and (3) set the course end date.

Here is a Canvas Guide to help you with this option: How do I change the start and end dates for a course?

What happens when you do this?

• The course card/link to the site is removed from the Dashboard (for all users)
• In the Course list, the course will be listed for all users under Past Enrollments (for all users)
• Instructors will be unable to add new people to the course, but they can still change, upload and edit or delete content.

Option B: Conclude course ("hard conclude")

Note: As of Fall 2022, instructors can no longer conclude a course in the manner described below. If you would like a course to be concluded in this manner, please send a request to bCourseshelp@berkeley.edu.

When you "hard conclude" a course, all of the items are put in an archived, read-only state. Most importantly, all enrollments, including instructors’ enrollments,’ are moved under “Prior Enrollments”, removing any edit abilities they may have had previously. See this Canvas Guide for instructions and more information: How do I conclude a course at the end of a term?

What happens when you do this?

• Instructors are unable to enter or edit grades, add people, send messages, or add or edit content.
• The course card/link to the site is removed from the Dashboard (for all users)
• In the Course list, the course will be listed for all users under Past Enrollments (for all users)
• Students cannot participate in the course but can still view some of its contents. (Note that Kaltura videos are NOT included in the content that is viewable. Thus, if you want students to be able to view Kaltura videos, this is not a good option.)

Note: If you need to restore student access after a course has been concluded, they can only be restored one by one, so only select option B if you are certain you will never need to restore access.

Option C: Hide course (from students)

In this option the course site is restricted from being seen by students altogether by (1) setting the course end date and (2) enabling the option “Restrict students from viewing course after end date.”

Instructors will still be able to see the course in their Prior Enrollments; however, students will be unable to see the course at all -- there isn’t even a link available for them to click on. Instructions for concluding a course in this way are available in these Canvas Guides:

• How do I change the start and end dates for a course?
• How do I restrict student access to a course before or after the course dates?

What happens when you do this?

• Students are unable to see a link to the course site at all
• As with Option A, instructors will be unable to add new people to the course, but they can still change, upload and edit or delete content.

Course Access Comparison

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just unpublish my course site?

This could be a way for you to restrict access. However, once your course contains a graded submission, you can no longer unpublish your course.