Canvas Guides

How do I use the To Do list and sidebar in the Dashboard as a student?

In the Card View Dashboard and the Recent Activity Dashboard, the sidebar contains a To Do list and other sections that help you know what assignments and events are coming up in all of your courses. The sidebar includes specific items for instructor and student roles. If you are enrolled in Canvas courses with more than one user role, your sidebar may show items for both roles.

The sidebar is similar to the sidebar that displays in your Course Home Page, but the course sidebar only includes items for the specific course. Depending on the setup of your Course Home Page, the sidebar in a course may contain additional sections than shown in the sidebar.

Note: You can also view items on the To Do list from the List View Dashboard.

00:07: How do I use the to-do list inside bar in the dashboard as a student? 00:12: In global navigation. Click the dashboard link. 00:16: The sidebar shows various action items in all your courses. 00:18: Each item is associated with a specific course. 00:22: All items from all your active courses display in the sidebar, not 00:26: just favorited courses in the dashboard. 00:30: Four-course identification. Each side bar item displays a course 00:34: code or short name. For the course, the course code is located 00:38: directly below. The full course name 00:41: Course, nicknames can be set in place of, sidebar, course codes that are long or otherwise 00:45: confusing to remember, which courses, they represent. 00:48: If you have created a nickname for a course, the nickname displays 00:52: in the sidebar instead of the course code. 00:54: However, the original course, code always displays in the 00:58: course card. 01:00: The sidebar helps you see what you need to do next and what feedback you've received across 01:04: all your courses? However, assignments that are not graded 01:08: or do not require an online submission, only display until the due date. 01:14: The to do section shows up to seven items with due dates or event dates in 01:18: the upcoming weeks, including ungraded, quizzes assignments. 01:22: That do not require a canvas submission, and course, announcements each 01:26: item in the to-do list displays the assignment name, the course name, the 01:30: number of points, and the due date for the assignment. 01:33: Once the due date has passed items remain, in this section 01:37: for 4 weeks, 01:40: The recent feedback section Show's, assignments with feedback from your instructor or appear 01:44: during the last 4 weeks. 01:47: The View grades button links to the dashboard grades page and displays grades 01:51: for all active courses. 01:54: Each section item displays an icon to differentiate between different assignment 01:58: types and other items in The To Do List. 02:02: If a section contains more items and can be shown, you can do all 02:06: to-do items using the show. All link this link directs you to 02:10: the list view dashboard. 02:12: To remove a to-do item, click the remove icon, the items remain 02:16: removed from the list. 02:18: If Allowed by your institution, you may also be able to create a new course from 02:22: the dashboard. 02:24: This guy covered how to use The To Do List and sidebar in the dashboard as a student.

Open Dashboard

In Global Navigation, click the Dashboard link.

View Sidebar Course Items

The sidebar shows various action items in all your courses. Each item is associated with a specific course. All items from all your active courses display in the sidebar—not just favorited courses in the Dashboard.

For course identification, each sidebar item displays the course name or nickname [1].

To open a To Do item, click the link [2].

Note: If you create a nickname for a course, the nickname displays in the sidebar instead of the course name. However, the original course name and code are available in the course card in the Card View Dashboard.

View Student Sections

The sidebar helps you see what you need to do next and what feedback you've received across all your courses. However, assignments that are not graded or do not require an online submission only display until the due date.

The To Do section shows up to seven items with due dates or event dates in the upcoming weeks, including ungraded quizzes, assignments that do not require a Canvas submission, and course announcements [1]. Each item in the To Do list displays the assignment name, the course name, the number of points, and the due date for the assignment. Once the due date has passed, items remain in this section for four weeks.

The Recent Feedback section shows assignments with feedback from your instructor or a peer during the last four weeks [2].

Manage Sidebar Items

Each section item displays an icon to differentiate between different assignment types and other items in the To Do list [1].

If a section contains more items than can be shown, you can view all to-do items using the Show All link [2]. This link directs you to the List View Dashboard.

To remove a To Do item, click the remove icon [3]. The item(s) remain removed from the list.

Note: Assignments submitted through Canvas disappear automatically from the To Do list; no-submission assignments (submitted on paper/in class) can only be removed from the list manually.

Create New Course

If allowed by your institution, you may also be able to create a new course from the Dashboard.

View Grades

To view your grades for all active courses on the Dashboard Grades page, click the View Grades button.