By:   Robyn Brown     

Extend Canvas Course Access For Students Who Are Working To Resolve An "Incomplete" Grade

Life happens -- to all of us, including our students. There are times when “life” is enough to cause short-term disruption in a student’s academic progress which may result in incomplete course work and, under special circumstances, the assignment of an “IU” (aka incomplete) grade at the end of the term.

When assigning an “Incomplete,” the instructor should explicitly communicate what the student will need to do in order to have their “IU” grade removed and changed to a passing grade by defining the course completion requirements and expectations (preferably in writing with acknowledgment by the student).

See “Change of Grade and Removal of Grade of Incomplete” in the Miami University Policy Library | Undergraduate Policy | Graduate Policy

After an agreement has been reached and the timeframe established, it’s easy to extend Canvas course access for students who are working to resolve an ‘Incomplete’ grade.

How-To Steps:

1. Determine the last day of the “Incomplete” time frame specified in your agreement. NOTE: In general, a grade of Incomplete not removed will be changed to an F on the last day of classes of the following semester, excluding summer or winter term for undergraduate students and winter term for graduate students.
2. Go to the Canvas course site in which the student is actively enrolled and in which as assigned an “IU” grade.
3. Click on “Settings” from the left-hand course navigation.
4. Under Course Details, scroll down to the fields for course end date (Ends:). Update the date to the last day of the “Incomplete” time frame established. Click “Done.” Note: There should be a date in this field. Leaving this field blank ‘confuses’ (so to speak) Canvas and can result in creating access issues.
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Save.”
6. Scroll up to the top of the Course Details page. Click on the tab for Sections, directly to the right of the tab for Course Details.
7. Click on the first blue hyperlinked course section under the heading Course Sections.
8. Click on “Edit Section” on the right-hand side of the window.
9. Edit the course end date (Ends:) to the last day of the “Incomplete” time frame established. Click “Done.”
   Note: There should be a date in this field. Leaving this field blank ‘confuses’ (so to speak) Canvas and can result in creating access issues.
10. Click on “Update Section.”
11. Click on “Settings” from the left-hand course navigation. Confirm you viewing the Sections tab.
12. Repeat Steps 7 - 10 for all listed and cross-listed sections within the Canvas course site.

Additional steps:

• If you set up ‘Available Until’ dates for any assignments or content in the course, you will need to adjust these dates so that the student may
• If you set up any Module restrictions or pre-requisites in the course, you may need to adjust those settings depending on what you’ve defined as the student’s course completion requirements and expectations.

Special note:

• If you do not make the date adjustments before the last day of the course specified in the Canvas course settings, you will not be able to make the date adjustments. Please contact the E-Campus Solutions Center for assistance.