# How do I use the Course Activity Stream as a student?

The Course Activity Stream shows you important recent activities from a single course including announcements, discussions, assignments, and conversations. This stream is similar to the [Global Activity Stream](https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Publisher-Test-Nathan/How-do-I-view-global-activity-for-all-courses-in-the-Recent/ta-p/644816) in the Dashboard when you first log in to Canvas.

The following activities will cause notifications to appear in the Course Activity Stream:

<div id="bkmrk-new-announcements-re"><div><div>- New Announcements
- Replies to Announcements
- New Discussions
- New Discussion Posts
- New Assignments
- Assignments, Quizzes, or Discussions Changed from Ungraded to Graded
- Due Date Changes to Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions
- New Graded Assignments
- New Peer Review Assignments
- New Conversation Messages

</div></div></div>**Notes**:

<div id="bkmrk-notifications-in-the"><div>- Notifications in the Course Activity Stream will not appear for activity in Files, Collaborations, Grades, Pages, or Conferences; ungraded quizzes and surveys; or edits to Discussions.
- Edits to Quizzes and Assignments will only appear in the Course Activity Stream when the **Notify users that this content has changed** button has been selected.
- If your Course Home Page is already set to view the course stream, the View Course Stream link does not appear in the course sidebar.

</div></div><div id="bkmrk-embed-this-video"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1" frameborder="0" height="400px" sandbox="allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-scripts allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-presentation" src="https://embed.app.guidde.com/playbooks/iFNobYsscQie5Qs4xC6PPu" title="How do I use the Course Home Page as a student?" width="700px"></iframe>

<button class="embed-button">Embed this Video</button></div>## Open Course

<div data-step-uuid="6bc6e958-6bd1-457e-9259-bcbd6b9a7c63" id="bkmrk-"><div data-step-uuid="6bc6e958-6bd1-457e-9259-bcbd6b9a7c63"><div>![Open Course ](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/008/728/139/original/efaeb125-fda7-4990-8e12-0cf4a4036324.png)</div><div><div></div></div></div></div>In Global Navigation, click the **Courses** link \[1\], then click the name of the course \[2\].

### Open Course Activity

<div data-step-uuid="6bc6e958-6bd1-457e-9259-bcbd6b9a7c63" id="bkmrk--0"><div data-step-uuid="6bc6e958-6bd1-457e-9259-bcbd6b9a7c63"><div data-step-uuid="9f49e23b-ed9c-495b-819e-933d1518a8aa"><div>![Open Course Activity](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/002/015/754/original/32afe6c5-5073-4703-936f-031dd5fef830.png)</div><div><div></div></div></div></div></div>In the Home Page sidebar, click the **View Course Stream** button.

**Note**: If your Course Home Page is already set to view the course stream, the View Course Stream link does not appear in the course sidebar.

## View Course Activity

<div data-step-uuid="a793bde2-a6f1-4ce0-afbe-f93a45aac9b0" id="bkmrk--1"><div data-step-uuid="a793bde2-a6f1-4ce0-afbe-f93a45aac9b0"><div>![View Course Activity](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/003/840/315/original/670b82c6-d3e9-48c5-a3fd-6b86a715a574.png)</div><div><div></div></div></div></div>The Course Activity Stream contains recent notifications in the course, including announcements, discussions, assignments, and conversations. This activity stream helps you see all recent activity in your course and easily ask questions and post to discussion forums. Unlike course cards on the Dashboard, the activity stream does not mimic visibility of Course Navigation links.

You can manage recent activity in a course the same way you can on the Dashboard. Activities are indicated by activity type and display an icon \[1\] for the activity. New activity in your account is indicated by a blue dot \[2\]. Discussions and Announcements indicate new activity items published in a course, and Conversations indicate a new message received from a user in a course. Recent Activity items remain for four weeks.

**Note:** To receive notifications for Discussions, you must actively post in the discussions at least once every two weeks. If you stop participating in a discussion after two weeks, Canvas will no longer display discussion notifications.

## Expand and Collapse Notifications

<div data-step-uuid="69638aed-769e-4520-a273-95b8d2b3748b" id="bkmrk--2"><div data-step-uuid="69638aed-769e-4520-a273-95b8d2b3748b"><div>![Expand and Collapse Notifications](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/003/840/318/original/e34aab5a-e058-4826-b7bf-5ee39198a976.png)</div><div><div></div></div></div></div>You can view the details of each activity by hovering in the notification area and clicking the **Show More** link \[1\]. To collapse recent activity, click the **Show Less** link \[2\].

## Manage Recent Activity

<div data-step-uuid="3501dba1-a5c6-4dd8-b1ed-81c58487ac3c" id="bkmrk--3"><div data-step-uuid="3501dba1-a5c6-4dd8-b1ed-81c58487ac3c"><div>![Manage Recent Activity](https://media.screensteps.com/image_assets/assets/003/840/322/original/65d124c0-7452-4b0a-b53c-f8dfd5d7f162.png)</div><div><div></div></div></div></div>You can directly access your recent activities by clicking the activity link \[1\]. To remove a notification, click the **remove** icon \[2\].

Content retrieved from [https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-use-the-Course-Activity-Stream-as-a-student/ta-p/394](https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-use-the-Course-Activity-Stream-as-a-student/ta-p/394)