Can I access my learning materials offline?

Learn on the go by downloading courses for offline access in the Canvas Student mobile app.

While the Learning Zone primarily operates as an online learning platform, there are options available for accessing learning materials offline to support your needs. This guide will address the use case of saving courses on your phone for offline viewing. If you want to access certain learning materials offline, you can also do this by downloading them. 

The Learning Zone is hosted in Canvas, which has offers the Canvas Student app. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to access the settings or preferences within the mobile app, which allows you to download and access course materials without an internet connection.

Step 1: Log in to the Canvas Student app on your mobile device

Once you have logged in, you’ll be directed to a screen that displays all the courses you are enrolled in. This is your Dashboard, or Home.

Step 2: Go to Settings

Click the three lines at the top left of your screen to open the Canvas Student app navigation menu. Once the navigation menu is open, click on Settings. 

Step 3: Click on Synchronisation

Under the Offline Content heading, click on Synchronisation. 

Step 4: Edit your synchronisation settings 

On the Synchronisation page, you can change the following settings: 

• Auto Content Sync: Enabling this will allow the app to download your course content based on the Sync Frequency settings you have chosen below. This will take place even if your app is not open. 
• Sync Frequency: Here you can specify how often you would like your content to be synced. This can be set to “Daily” or “Weekly”. 

• Sync Content Over Wi-Fi Only: If this setting is enabled, your content will only be synced while you are connected to a WiFi network.

Step 5: Go back to the Dashboard

Once you have updated your synchronisation settings, go back to the Dashboard by clicking on the back arrows at the top of your screen. 

Step 6: Open options 

On the Dashboard where you are able to see all the courses you are enrolled in, click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of your screen to manage the options for all your courses.  

Step 7: Manage offline content 

Once you’ve clicked on the icon, a window with three options will appear on the screen. Select Manage Offline Content to proceed. 

Step 8: Select content 

In the offline content section, there is an option to select all courses. However, if you want to download content for an individual course, select the radio button next to the relevant course.  

Step 9: Sync content 

Once you’ve selected your course or courses, click on the sync button at the bottom. A window will pop up asking you to confirm. Depending on your settings in Step 4, you will need WiFi access; alternatively, this sync will use data. If you are happy to proceed, click on Sync. 

After you have completed these steps, the course(s) will take a few minutes to download and sync. Once this process is complete, you can access your course content via the mobile app at any time. 

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