Canvas / Course-level roles and permissions

Objective

• To provide information about the roles and permissions that are available at the Canvas course level

User

• Canvas Instructor

Environment

• 10185: Canvas

Guide

• Any instructor can add a user to their Canvas course for the current term. Courses in prior terms are closed, and users will not be added
• For assistance re-opening a course, please review Canvas / Modify a closed course or Canvas / Open a closed course for a student
• Only the instructor of record should be given the role of Teacher in a course
• All student enrollment and faculty appointments are added to Banner and pushed to Canvas in a daily refresh.  No faculty or students should be added manually to a course
• Students who are officially enrolled in the course, even late, will automatically be added to the course when the course updates run throughout the day
• When a student's Banner record is officially updated, the student will be added to the course
• Care should be taken to only add necessary users in the correct role, following FERPA and University policy
• Adding a user without a Miami account or manually adding a user with Miami credentials not listed in Add People will create a duplicate account, and the actual Banner account will not be connected to the new account. Accounts should only be set up through the proper procedure in Admissions, the grad school, or Human Resources

Special Roles

• The following special roles are available:
  • Librarian - for Embedded Librarians only. Do not use the Teacher role
  • Guest Lecturer - should be for outside persons who will contribute to discussions, lectures, etc., in a course. Cannot view Grades
  • Chair-approved Co-Teacher - for instructors as needed who are not the instructor of record
  • Chair or other Chair-approved Faculty Designee - used for Department Chairs only
  • Vendor Support - used for external vendor support staff only if Grade Passback exists between the vendor’s product and Canvas
    • How do I know if there’s Grade Passback?  If assignments completed in the vendor’s product automatically sync with the Canvas Gradebook for the course. When in doubt, ask the specific vendor directly
    • How do I add a vendor rep for support without Grade access? Use the Guest Lecturer role
  • Project Dragonfly Facilitator - to be used by Project Dragonfly staff only
  • Course Lead - to be used by Nursing staff only
  • Non-Author Faculty / Master Course Site Access - should only be added to Course Masters, Course Mains, and Project Courses; not to be added to a course with student enrollment
  • Course Author/Steward - should only be added to Course Mains developed with Miami Online; not to be added to a course with student enrollment
     
• The following Special Student roles are available:
  • TA -  Teaching Assistant, for use only with Graduate students or Undergraduate Associate TAs with Chair approval to Grade (please see Miami University’s Use of Undergraduates as Teachers policy)
  • Undergrad Assoc TA - Undergraduate Associate Teaching Assistant, for use with Undergraduate TAs who do not have approval to Grade
    • Please note: Role can create and manage Discussions and Announcements, but no Gradebook or SpeedGrader access
       
• The Observer role should not be used. The role is a default in Canvas and cannot be removed or renamed. However, the role has been stripped of all permissions

Notes

• Questions about role permissions and access should be directed to Miami Online at miamionline@MiamiOH.edu
• Miami Online offers Canvas training
  • Office hours and support will be offered throughout each term. Look for an announcement in Canvas and an email to all faculty
  • Resources for using technology. guides, and best practices can be found on the Miami Online website
• Visit the Canvas Status Dashboard to check performance information for Canvas services
• Instructure provides up-to-date instructor documentation and instructions for Canvas
  • Browse all Canvas Guides by product or see the Canvas Instructor Guide