When first requested, Moodle courses are hidden from students.

• Courses requested before the start of Preview Week are automatically released to students at the start of Preview Week.
• If a course is requested during Preview Week, it will be released to students the business day before the semester starts.
• If requested after the business day before the semester starts, instructors must release the course to students themselves.
• Student access is removed two weeks after grades for the term are released.

Instructors can hide courses that are not ready for use (after the automatic release date), or open courses prior to the beginning of the semester. 

Note: We do not recommend re-opening a course after the close of the semester because it can confuse students. If you have a student working on an Incomplete you do not need to re-open a past semester's course (which would make it show in the My Courses navigation for all students who had been enrolled in the class). Rather, you can give a particular student the role of Student with Incomplete and allow them special access to the course (see Assign Roles to Individuals in your Moodle Course). The Student with Incomplete role allows access all course activities and resources with the exception of Echo360 content, which is semester locked. For more information on providing Echo360 content to students, contact Instructional Media Lab at instruct@umass.edu.

Use the Course Management Panel to Change your Course Visibility

1. In the menu bar at the top of your course page, select the Course Management button (gear icon ). The Course Management panel will open. 
2. On the Course Management panel, under Course Settings, select Edit course settings. The Edit course settings page will open.
3. On the Edit course settings page, under General, for Course visibility, select Hide or Show.
4. Click Save and display.