End-of-Term Course Access Guide

Overview

This page outlines important information about Canvas course access, archiving, and deletion at the end of each term or part of term. It includes key timelines for when student and faculty access changes, explains the course archiving and long-term deletion process, and provides guidance for handling Incomplete grades within Canvas. Faculty should review this information carefully to ensure they are aware of what actions can and cannot be taken once a term concludes. If you have questions about post-term access, archiving, or special circumstances, please reach out to Online@JSU at online@jsu.edu.

Students lose access to courses three days after final exams end, at 11:59 PM.
Example: For Fall 2025, student access ends on December 12 at 11:59 PM.

Faculty access becomes read-only at 11:59 PM on the day grades are due in Banner. You can still view content, grades, and submissions, and copy course materials into future courses—but you will no longer be able to make edits.
Example: For Fall 2025, grades are due at Noon on December 12, so edit access ends that same day at 11:59 PM.

  • Note on Parts of Term: If you're teaching a part-of-term course (e.g., Fall A), your access will follow the full term’s timeline—not the part-of-term.
    Example: Fall A 2025 grades are due October 10, but read-only access begins December 12 at 11:59 PM, along with the full term.

  • View All Courses: To locate previously taught courses, in the Canvas Global Navigation menu, click “Courses” > “All Courses.” This page shows current, past, and future enrollments.

  • Why You Can’t Favorite Closed Courses: Once a course is concluded (based on term dates), it can no longer be "favorited" to appear on your Dashboard.
    Note: This is a Canvas system-wide configuration and not specific to Jax State.

  • Access & Use Past Courses: All past courses remain accessible in a read-only state.
    Faculty can still copy content from these courses into new course shells which is ideal for reusing materials in future terms.

About one week after grades are due, courses are moved into an Archive subaccount in Canvas. This doesn’t affect your ability to access or copy course materials.
Archived courses can still be viewed and imported into future courses.

Retaining Course Content and Student Data

Canvas retains courses for seven years after the end of the term. However, faculty who wish to keep course materials or student data beyond that timeframe may find it helpful to take additional steps.

While not required, the recommended actions below can assist in preserving important content and records before a course is permanently deleted from Canvas. We encourage faculty to consider completing these steps at the end of each term to stay organized and avoid last-minute efforts closer to the deletion schedule.

Create a file folder structure in your OneDrive before you download and save your content.

Strongly Recommended

  1. Download Gradebook
  2. Download Course Package

Advised

  1. Download Quizzes (Classic Quizzes) - *if you use Classic Quizzes
  2. Download New Quizzes - *if you use New Quizzes
  3. Download Assignment Submissions
  4. Download Discussion Responses/Replies
  5. Download Turnitin Student Similarity Reports
  6. Download Classic Quiz Student Quiz Answers
  7. Download New Quiz Student Quiz Answers

Other

  1. End-of-Term Course Access Guide
  2. Download the End-of-Course Procedures PDF Handout

Courses are deleted from Canvas at least 7 years after the term ends.
Example: Fall 2025 courses (including all parts of term) will be deleted in January 2033.

If a student needs additional time to complete coursework due to an Incomplete grade, faculty can request limited course access using the steps below:

  1. Submit the Request Form
    The instructor completes the Request Incomplete Grade Section Enrollment Form, which is automatically routed to Online@JSU.

  2. Section Setup by Online@JSU
    A special section is added to the original course. Both the instructor and the student are enrolled in this section, with an end date set for the end of the next major term (or earlier if specified).

  3. Access and Permissions
    Only the student with the Incomplete will have access to participate in this special section. The instructor can update content, adjust settings, and enter grades—but only as needed to support that specific student's completion of the coursework.

Note: Instructors should avoid making global changes to the course that affect other students. All edits should be specific to the Incomplete student’s needs.

"Restrict students from viewing course after the course end date"
This setting should remain enabled unless a specific exception is needed.

If you have questions or need to grant read-only post-term access to a student, please contact online@jsu.edu.