The access to Canvas content for Student, Teacher, and other Canvas roles is determined by a combination of Canvas Admin settings and the Course Participation setting in Canvas courses. Before reading the information on this page, review the key terminology below.
Terminology
Review key terminology used on this page:
Academic Term: An academic term is determined by the first date of the quarter and last date of the quarter as published on the Bellevue College Academic Calendar.
Canvas Term: A Canvas Term is determined by start and end dates built for a named Term within Canvas. At Bellevue College, Canvas terms are built with a Start Date that is 5 weekdays prior to the Academic Term and an End Date that is on the same day that finals are due.
Course Participation: Course Participation is a Canvas term and is defined by the period when a user (student or instructor) has an active enrollment in a course (can both view and interact with the content). At Bellevue College, Course Participation is set to Course by an Admin setting and is not editable by instructors. Course Participation dates are created at the time of course creation.
Active and Concluded Course States
While a course is active (not concluded), students can view and submit assignments and quizzes, respond to discussions and announcements, and interact with other students and the instructor/s in the course via the Canvas Inbox. Instructors can view, create, and edit content, assignments, and quizzes, grade and make grade changes, and message students via the Canvas Inbox. Both students and instructors can favorite any active course so that it remains on their Canvas dashboard.
Concluded courses are automatically removed from the user’s dashboard unless the course was previously favorited. Concluded courses are automatically removed from the Compose area of Canvas Inbox. Instructors will need to use an alternative to Canvas Inbox for communicating with students in a concluded course. Because concluded courses are not editable by instructors after the instructor conclude date, instructors are advised to make final changes to their Canvas shells at the end of the quarter and before they lose editing access. For incompletes, instructors are advised to submit an incomplete request with ITS. Instructors are able to course copy concluded courses.
For more information on what students and instructors can access and edit please refer to this Course Participation Access During and After Course Dates article.
Course Participation Timeline
Bellevue College has adopted the following schedule for course participation.
| TERM | INSTRUCTOR ACCESS STARTS | STUDENT ACCESS STARTS | ACADEMIC TERM STARTS | ACADEMIC TERM END | STUDENT CONCLUDE DATE | INSTRUCTOR CONCLUDE DATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2026 | Sept 22, 2025 | Dec 29, 2025 | Jan 5, 2026 | Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 30, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 |
| Spring 2026 | Jan 5, 2026 | Mar 30, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | June 24, 2026 | June 29, 2026 | July 6, 2026 |
| Summer 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | June 29, 2026 | July 6, 2026 | Aug 20, 2026 | Aug 24, 2026 | Sept 21, 2026 |
| Fall 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | Sept 14, 2026 | Sept 21, 2026 | Dec 10, 2026 | Dec 14, 2026 | Jan 4, 2027 |
| *First day of the previous Academic Term | *5 weekdays prior to Academic Term start date | *Day that grades are due | *First day of the next Academic Term |
NOTE: Fall courses are created on the first day of Spring Term (not Summer)
Reminder
Need to message students after the term has ended? You can continue to reach out to students after the term via ctcLink email.
Last Updated January 21, 2026