Description
Courses in Canvas can be created in different ways, depending on the type of course and how that course will be used.
Academic, for credit courses that are managed by our Student Information System (PeopleSoft) are automatically created in Canvas 8 weeks before the start date of the course. These courses automatically load students and maintain accurate enrollment information from PeopleSoft. Important Note: These are the only courses that can be used for credit-bearing, graded student activity of any kind.
All instructors of record will also receive an automatically created Test Course in Canvas. This course can be used to explore the features and functionality of Canvas without risk of changes to your academic courses. These courses have a course code that starts with test_ohioID. These courses must not include student enrollments, be used for grading purposes, nor be merged or cross listed with academic courses.
Beginning May 8, 2025, instructors will have the ability to create their own courses within Canvas. These courses can be used for the exploration of Canvas features and functions, or to build content to be used with future academic courses. These courses must not include student enrollments, be used for grading purposes, nor be merged or cross listed with academic courses.
Additionally, all faculty, staff and instructors of record (including graduate students) can request manually created courses be created by OIT for things like training, orientation, continuing education, or other activities where someone would be enrolled in the course as a student but is not an academic for credit course. Please note, these courses must not be merged or cross listed with academic courses.
Manually created (non-academic) courses that are not accessed in more than two years, are subject to permanent deletion.
Environment
Canvas in your browser
Solution
Creating your Own Canvas Course
Beginning May 8, 2025, all instructors will have the ability to create their own courses in Canvas. These courses can be used for the exploration of Canvas features and functions, or to build content to be used with future academic courses.
These courses must not include student enrollments, be used for grading purposes, nor be merged or cross listed with academic courses.
To create a course in Canvas:
- Navigate to your Dashboard in Canvas
- At the bottom of the right-hand menu select Start a New Course
- In the pop-up box, provide a name for the course.
- Select the Create button.
- This will automatically create the course, enroll you as the instructor, and take you to the course settings page of the new course.
Requesting Additional Courses for Trainings, Organizations, or Continuing Education, etc.
All faculty, staff and instructors of record (including graduate students) can request manually created courses. Manually created courses can be used for things like replacing Organizations from Blackboard, Training, Orientation, Continuing Education, or other activities where someone would be enrolled in the course as a student. Faculty can also request manually created courses on behalf of graduate teaching assistants or as part of a required teaching assignment for a course. We ask that users request these manually created courses directly through OIT to ensure we place the courses in the appropriate college or unit space within Canvas.
These courses are not associated with a specific academic term and do not have expiration dates. Enrollment in the course is managed by the indicated instructors in the course. These courses must not be merged or cross listed with academic courses. Manually created courses that are not accessed for more than two years are subject to permanent deletion.
To request a manually created course:
Request a manually created course by clicking the Create Ticket link in the top-right corner of this page and include a description about the purpose of your manually created course(s)
Note: You may request multiple manually created courses in a single ticket.
Get Help from Canvas
- Live chat with Canvas support (Faculty)
- Get 24-hours/7-days a week Canvas support
- Dial the Canvas Support Hotline number located under "Get Help" in the Canvas Global Navigation Menu
- Contact OIT at 740-593-1222 for questions related to logging in, test courses/manually created courses, or third-party tools (Panopto, VoiceThread, Inclusive Access, etc.)
Get Help from OIT
Additional Resources