Course Pacing is a new way to manage due dates for Canvas sites that have students joining at different times of the year; for example, Canvas sites for majors and programs, clubs or training courses. With Course Pacing, you can set Assignments to have a due date based on when the student was enrolled in the Canvas site. This allows you to have enrollees complete forms or training modules a certain number of days after they join the course, without having to set a static due date. You must place your Assignments in Modules to use Course Pacing.

Course Pacing can be enabled on a by-course basis. Click Settings in the left-hand menu bar, then click the Enable Course Pacing checkbox. (Don’t forget to click the Update Course Details button!)

To set your overall course pace, click the Modules link in the left-hand menu, then click the Course Pacing button on the upper-right to open Course Pacing.

Course Pacing start and end dates default to the course start date and end dates noted in Course Settings (1). These dates are for reference; a student’s start date will change based on when they joined the Canvas site.

Once Course Pacing is open, all Assignments in the Modules will list a due date and a Days field to adjust (2). At first, all assignments display the course start date until the Days field is adjusted. To modify the number of days after a student enrolls in the course that an assignment is due, use the Days field (2). Subsequent assignments display the adjusted due date (3). You can manage a subsequent assignment due dates using the corresponding Days field for each.

You can view Course Pace assignment due dates for an individual student by clicking the selector dropdown at the top of the page (1) and choosing Students (2). This will pop out a menu where you can select a single student (3). You can now see the course start date for that particular student (i.e. the day they enrolled) as well as the due dates for each assignment adjusted to the individual student’s course start date. These dates cannot be adjusted, this is an informational view only.