Once you've determined your Terms and created your sub-account structure, you can begin adding your courses or transferring your course list into Canvas. Courses can only belong to ONE term and be listed under ONE sub-account.

Ways to Add a Course to Canvas

When adding courses, you are essentially creating empty course shells for teachers to store and share course files, present instructional materials, hold class discussions, deliver and collect assignments, and administer quizzes and surveys.

Sub-Account vs. Department
Canvas uses the terms "Sub-Account" and "Department" interchangeably.
From an admin POV, a course resides in a sub-account.
From a teacher POV, a course resides in a department
(in the course settings).

There are three (3) ways to create courses in Canvas.

1. Via SIS Import

Using proper SIS import format documentation, you can create a .csv file with course information and import all courses into Canvas in bulk.

2. Via User-Interface (Admin)

A new course can be created manually through the user-interface. Admins can create a course name, add a reference code, determine which sub-account and term the course will reside.

3. Via User-Interface (User Dashboard)

Depending on your Canvas admin settings, you can enable course creation for teachers, students, or users with no enrollment. By enabling these privileges, specific users in your system will see the "Start a New Course" button when they log into Canvas.

View this video with captions.

Moving Course to Another Sub-Account or Term

Once a course has been added in Canvas, you can always change which TERM or SUB-ACCOUNT resides in via another SIS import or through the user-interface. If you use the user-interface, simply go into the course site, click on 'settings' tab in the left-hand navigation and update the information.

The following tutorials detail courses:

How do I view the courses in my account?
How do I manually create a course?
How do I conclude my course at the end of a semester?
How do I delete a course in my account?
How do I undelete a course?
How do I filter courses?
How do I find courses?
How do I view my courses?