Why Can't I See My Course?

If you can't see your courses in Canvas, don't worry—there are several common reasons this might be happening. Your course may not be published by the instructor yet, your enrollment may not be active, or semester dates might be restricting access.

What to Do If Your Course Is Missing in Canvas

Step 1: Check Enrollment In Banner

Canvas receives enrollment information from Banner, which is UIW's Student Information and Registration System. The first thing to check is if you're enrolled in the course. Students can check their current enrollments by:

Log in to Cardinal Apps
Launch BannerWeb Self-Service
Select Student Services
Select Registration
Select View Registration Information

On the Registration page, you can view courses that you're registered for. If you do not see a course, it will not show up in Canvas. If you aren't registered, learn about registration at UIW.

Step 2: Has the Semester Started?

By default, courses are made available no earlier than the official start date of the semester. This means that the course will not populate on the Canvas Dashboard or be accessible to students until that date. However, some instructors may choose to open the course earlier. Contact your instructor for more information.

"The Semester Has Started, but I Still Cannot See My Course" - A course in Canvas is not accessible to students until the instructor manually publishes the course. If the semester has started and you’re registered, but you still can’t access the course, contact your instructor for more information.

Step 3: Check Enrollment In Canvas

Courses appear in two places: the Dashboard and the All Courses list. The Dashboard is your Canvas landing page and shows active, published courses. The All Courses list includes past and future enrollments and can be accessed from the Courses menu in the sidebar. If your course isn’t on the Dashboard, check the All Courses list.

You can check the All Courses list by:

Log in to Cardinal Apps
Open Canvas LMS
Select Courses from the global navigation menu
Select All Courses from the slide-out menu. The All Courses menu displays your past, present, and future enrollments.
Review your courses in Canvas.

If a Course Is Listed on the All Courses Page

Check the published status:

If the course says "No" under Published, the instructor hasn’t made it available to students yet. You won’t be able to access it until they do. Contact the instructor for assistance.
If the course says "Yes" under Published, check whether it's under Past or Future Enrollments. If so, the instructor may have restricted access to the course before the start date. If it's a current enrollment, but the course is still accessible, there may be a problem with the course participation dates. Contact the instructor for clarification.

If a Course Is Not Listed and You Are Enrolled in Banner

Enrollment changes made by the Registrar’s Office are not instantly reflected in Canvas. Updates occur every two to three hours throughout the day. Therefore, if you've recently enrolled, check back in a few hours.

If the course still doesn’t appear after that, ensure your browser is up to date. If that still does not resolve the issue, submit a Help Desk ticket for further investigation.

If a Course Is Not Listed and You Are Not Enrolled in Banner

You are not enrolled in the course.

Key Takeaways

First and foremost, you must be registered for a course in Banner before it appears in Canvas.
Each course is associated with specific access dates and settings. Depending on how the instructor handles these settings, you may not yet be able to view the course.
The instructor must manually publish courses before you can access them. If a course is not accessible to you in your course list, it may not be published.

How Do I Contact My Instructor?

Canvas has many built-in features to contact instructors of a current Canvas course. If the problem is that the course hasn't started, there are alternate methods to get in touch with an instructor.

BannerWeb Self-Service

When you check your current Banner registration, the courses include instructor information. Some courses in this registration menu share an email, while all provide at least the instructor's name. You can obtain the instructor's email from there. For anyone without an email listed in Banner, we recommend searching their name with UIW (e.g., "Teacher Mcteacher UIW") to find their information on the uiw.edu site.

Outlook Directory

Alternatively, if you know the instructor's name but not their email, you can look up their official UIW email using Outlook Online, the university's email application. To search for a name in Outlook:

Log in to Cardinal Apps
Open Outlook
Select New Mail
In the To field, type a name and select Search Directory from the drop-down menu

Help Desk Support

Lastly, if you’re still unable to find your instructor’s contact information in Banner or Outlook, and you’re enrolled in a course, reach out to the Help Desk. Explain the steps you’ve taken and let them know you’re seeking your instructor’s information for the course.