Canvas features for blended learning activities
Features that support remote and blended learning activities, including course calendar, lecture recordings, to-do list, and content availability settings.
Calendar event
A Canvas calendar event is a non-graded activity and may include non-timetabled events such as a field trip or guest speaker. Events created on the Calendar will show up on the syllabus page and within students’ personal calendars but they will not appear on the Assignments page or in the Gradebook.
- Calendar events can be displayed by day, week, month or list.
- Filter the calendar view by selecting or deselecting courses in the sidebar. The Calendar is designed to display up to 10 courses’ activities at a time.
- Labelling a course as a favourite will raise it to the top of the list in the sidebar.
- Subscribing to a calendar feed allows you to see course events across multiple external calendar platforms (iCal, Google, Outlook, etc.)
- Class meetings that are scheduled from your Canvas course, through either the Zoom or Conferences (BigBlueButton) menus, are added to the Calendar automatically.
Video: Canvas tutorial – Calendar overview
Recordings made in lecture theatres
Panopto is the platform the University uses to create and share recorded lectures and presentation videos.
- All scheduled lectures delivered in recording-enabled rooms will be recorded automatically and released to students via the Panopto Video menu in your Canvas course. They are available to students 24 hours after being recorded.
- Capture your presentation in any platform (Panopto, Zoom, Teams), then upload the file to Panopto Video in your course menu to share your video with a Canvas course immediately.
- In Panopto, use the availability settings to choose the start and end dates for when your video will be available to students.
Related guides:
Appointment scheduler
You can create appointment groups in the Calendar, which allocates available times for students to meet with you; students select available timeslots. Appointments can be for individuals or groups.
Related guides:
To-do list
In Canvas, all graded activities will automatically be added to the To Do list of both teachers and students. This helps students manage their time and workload effectively.
To add additional activity reminders, use the options section on any Page or Discussion.
Related guides:
Availability settings
You can release content in your Canvas course on a given date and time:
- Modules can be locked until a given date. If published, students will be able to see the module titles and module item names, but they will not be able to access the module items until the release date.
- You can edit permissions for files and folders by
- Changing the state of the file (published or unpublished)
- Scheduling availability dates for the files
- Discussions, Assignments and Quizzes also have availability settings.
- Availability dates can be set for Panopto videos.
Related guides:
- How do I restrict files and folders?
- How do I lock a module?
- What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates?
- Panopto – how to publish videos using the Availability Workflow
- How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
- How do I make a quiz available before or after the due date?
Support
Check out our learning technology support page to find out what options are available for Canvas.
Page updated: 10/04/2025 (updated links to guides)