CANVAS - Resources for Instructors

A common request from instructors is, "How do I add people to my course?" (students, GTAs, other professors, LEAD facilitators, etc.). There are established processes for adding people to a course, depending on the desired role. See the information below for details.

 

Adding People to Canvas

If an instructor wishes to add a student to a course who is supposed to be enrolled in that course, the instructor MUST work with the Registrar's Office to ensure that student is properly enrolled in the course through Joe'SS. Once the student is enrolled via Joe'SS, they will show up in Canvas the next time that the enrollment data in Canvas is refreshed. This happens every few hours, so be patient if it doesn't happen immediately.

This commonly happens when a student enrolls at Missouri S&T after the start of the semester. It can take several days before a student's S&T account information trickles through all of the different services to which they will need access (email, Joe'SS, Canvas, etc.). In those cases, instructors may need to provide printed access to course materials until the student has access to the course materials in Canvas.

If a student needs to be added to a course simply so they have access to the course materials, then the instructor can submit an IT Help Request to have that student added to the course as an Observer. Observers have limited access to any student data within a course, but can see all of the content. This is fairly common for LEAD facilitators who would like to know what is being taught in a course so that they can help students master the materials.

If you need to add a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) or grader to a course, then follow the steps below:

  1. Work within the department to assign the GTA/Grader to the proper course or section.
  2. If the student has NOT been a GTA or grader before, then the department sends the information to the Registrar. IMPORTANT: All GTAs and Graders MUST complete FERPA training before they will be allowed access to a course!
  3. If the student has been a GTA or grader, then the department can add the student directly to the course/section via CourseLeaf, the course scheduling software used by departments to place instructors in the proper courses

GTAs and Graders should be added to the courses in Canvas overnight. 

Here is a flowchart describing the process: Adding GTA Grader to Canvas

If an instructor wishes to add another instructor to course so that they have the role of a Teacher (or TA) in Canvas, follow the steps below:

  1. Work within the department to add the instructor to the course as a Teacher.
  2. If the instructor has already completed FERPA training, then the department can add the instructor via the CourseLeaf scheduling software.
  3. If the instructor has NOT completed FERPA training (because they are new faculty, for instance), then the department will need to contact the Registrar's Office to enroll that instructor in FERPA training before they can be granted access to any Canvas course. IMPORTANT: FERPA training is required for access to Canvas/Joe'SS courses!

In some cases, one faculty member may be taking over teaching duties from another faculty member and simply wants access to course materials. In such cases, the instructors should contact the IT Help Desk to request shared access to an existing course. The best practice is in this situation is to request a "sandbox" course so that the course materials can be copied over from the existing course without any possible FERPA violations to worry about. 

Non-S&T Instructors sometimes request access to a Canvas course because they are coordinating instruction with an on-campus instructor. This is only an issue if the person will need to view instructional materials in the course and perhaps even grade student work. 

If a non-S&T instructor needs access to a Canvas course, they need to follow the steps below:

  1. Both an on-campus S&T instructor and the off-campus non-S&T instructor need to present a written request for access to the course. They will need to provide the specifics of the course name/section and what level of access is to be provided. The on-campus instructor can make a request via the IT Help Desk and include an email from the off-campus non-S&T instructor as an attachment to the request.
  2. Once it has been confirmed that the on-campus and off-campus instructors have provided documentation about their request, then IT/CAFE will determine if the off-campus instructor already has a Canvas account (because of a previous request). If so, then one of two things will happen:
    1. If the desired role is Observer, the non-S&T instructor can be added to the course without any issue. They will not see anything they are not supposed to see and cannot interact with students.
    2. If the desired role is Teacher (or TA), then the department sponsoring the non-S&T instructor files a request with the Registrar asking for the non-S&T instructor to be added to the course. Again, this only occurs if the non-S&T already has an existing Canvas account.
  3. If the non-S&T instructor does NOT have an existing Canvas account, then they need to follow the steps below:
    1. If the desired role is Observer, the sponsoring department can submit an IT Help Request to create a Canvas account for the non-S&T instructor. IT will do so and add the person to the course as an Observer.
    2. If the desired role is Teacher, then the sponsoring department must submit a formal request for a Courtesy Appointment through HR. This will then be sent up through the Registrar's Office, which will then ensure that the non-S&T instructor is properly enrolled in the desired course.

A flowchart illustrating this process can be found here: Add NonSandT Instructor