How do I use the Course Home Page as a student?

If you are enrolled in a course as a student, the Course Home Page helps you navigate your course and manage your coursework. The Course Navigation Menu is always visible on its respective pages.

Note: Your instructor may choose to display a different font for your course.

Open Course

In Global Navigation, click the Courses link [1], then click the name of the course [2].

View Course Home Page

The Course Home Page involves Course Navigation [1], the content area [2], and the sidebar [3].

View Course Navigation

The Course Home Page is viewed from the Course Navigation Home link [1]. The active link of the page you are viewing is highlighted with different color text and a line indicator.

Course Navigation includes links that help you get to specific locations in the course. Instructors can customize what links are shown in a course, so if you don't see links that may display in other courses, your instructor has hidden those links from your view.

When your instructor grades your assignments, you may also see course indicators that show updates to your course Grades [2].

Collapse Course Navigation Menu

To expand or collapse the Course Navigation Menu, click the Menu icon. When you choose to expand or collapse the Global Navigation menu, your preference is applied to all of your courses.

View Content Area

Home Page content (and all Canvas content) is displayed in the content area.

The content can be a page, the syllabus, discussions, announcements, quizzes, or imported content [1]. The content can also show the Course Activity Stream, which is a list of all recent activity in the course. Your Home Page may also display recent announcements at the top of the page [2].

The Home Page content also defines what sections display in the sidebar.

View Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs appear above the course content area.  

As you view course content, the breadcrumbs leave a trail to show where you are inside the course. You can follow these links backward to visit prior course content.

Note: If you have created a nickname for a course, the breadcrumbs display the nickname to identify the course. Otherwise, the breadcrumbs display the course code.

View Sidebar

The sidebar functions the same as the Dashboard sidebar but only shows content for the specific course and includes additional options.

If your Course Home Page displays a page other than the Course Activity Stream, you can view the course activity stream by clicking the sidebar View Course Stream button [1]. When the Home Page is set as the Course Activity Stream, this button will not appear.

If you have been added to a group in your course, the Course Group section [2] includes links to your course groups.

View Sidebar Sections

The sidebar always shows the To Do section [1], which shows all recent announcements and up to seven assignments that are due in the upcoming weeks, including ungraded quizzes and assignments that do not require a submission. Each item in the To Do list displays the assignment name, the number of points, and the due date for the assignment. Once the due date has passed, items remain in this section for four weeks.

The sidebar can also include a variety of other sections, depending on the layout your instructor sets for the Course Home Page. Additional sidebar options include the Assignment list, Calendar and Assignment Groups, and Recent Feedback.

Manage Sidebar Items

Each section item displays an icon [1] to differentiate between assignments and peer review assignments.

If a section contains more items than are listed, a link will appear under the list that you can use to view additional items [2].

The To Do section shows up to seven items with due dates in the upcoming weeks. To view more items, you must manually remove items from the list. To remove a To Do item, click the remove icon [3].

Note: Assignments submitted through Canvas disappear automatically from the To Do list; no-submission assignments (submitted on paper/in class) can only be removed from the list manually.

Content retrieved from https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-use-the-Course-Home-Page-as-a-student/ta-p/504