Canvas - Course Roles and Permissions [UW-Madison]

This document lists the different course roles used in UW-Madison’s instance of Canvas and describes what they can and cannot do and when they are typically used.

Course Instructor Roles

All active Canvas courses must have at least one course instructor. In for-credit courses, enrollments are automatic, based on data entered in the Student Information System. The primary for-credit instructor roles are Principal Instructors, Auxiliary Instructors, and Supervisory Instructors. In noncredit courses, most instructors hold the Teacher role.

Course Instructor Roles

Role

Can

Cannot

Use in For-Credit Courses

Use in Non-Credit Courses

Teacher

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll students
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other course roles
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content

See more.

The role is not recommended. It has been replaced by Principal Instructor, Supervisory Instructor, or Auxiliary Instructor.

Role assigned manually by instructor.


This role is recommended for the users who will be instructing or administrating noncredit courses.

Co-Teacher

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll students
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff

The role is not recommended. It has been replaced by Principal Instructor, Supervisory Instructor, or Auxiliary Instructor.

Role assigned manually by instructor.

Principal Instructor

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections

The Principal Instructor is defined by the Office of the Registrar as the instructor who regularly interacts with students in a given section.


This role is assigned by departmental curricular representatives in the Student Information System and then gets pulled into Canvas.This role cannot be changed within Canvas. Updates must be made by the appropriate curricular representative.

Role is not used.

Supervisory Instructor

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff
  • View participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections
  • Edit participant grades
  • View course analytics

The Supervisory Instructor is defined by the Office of the Registrar as the “qualified” instructor in cases where the Principal Instructor needs supervision.


This role is assigned by departmental curricular representatives in the Student Information System and then gets pulled into Canvas.This role cannot be changed within Canvas. Updates must be made by the appropriate curricular representative.

Role is not used.

Auxiliary Instructor

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff

An Auxiliary Instructor is defined by the Office of the Registrar as an instructor who provides a small portion of instruction for a course section..


This role is assigned by departmental curricular representatives in the Student Information System and then gets pulled into Canvas.This role cannot be changed within Canvas. Updates must be made by the appropriate curricular representative.

Role is not used.

Guest Instructor

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff

Role manually assigned by instructor.

Guest Instructors typically teach only a few sessions during the semester. In instances where Guest Instructors are not UW-Madison faculty or staff, they may need to set up a NetID before they can be added to the course. See Canvas - Requesting Access for External Users [UW-Madison].

Role manually assigned by instructor.

Guest Instructors typically teach only a few sessions during the semester. In instances where Guest Instructors are not UW-Madison faculty or staff, they may need to set up a NetID before they can be added to the course. See Canvas - Requesting Access for External Users [UW-Madison].

TA

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content

See more.

  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff

In most courses, section TAs will be automatically enrolled in Canvas as Principal Instructors or Auxiliary Instructors (as designated in SIS).


Instructors can choose to manually enroll users with the TA role.

Role manually assigned by instructor.

Course Participant Roles

Most Canvas courses enroll participants. The most common participant role is Student.

Course Participant Roles

Role

Can

Cannot

Use in For-Credit Courses

Use in Non-Credit Courses

Student

  • View published course content
  • Take quizzes and submit assignments
  • Participate in discussions
  • View their own grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content (unless opted out) 

See more.

  • View unpublished/inactive courses
  • View inactive courses or unpublished course content
  • View unpublished course content
  • Edit or remove course content
  • Edit grades
  • Add other users to course

Role is automatically assigned to students who enroll in for-credit courses.


For-credit course instructors cannot manually enroll students.

Role manually assigned by instructor.


Most noncredit course instructors should use the student role to enroll participants.

Auditor

  • View published course content
  • Take quizzes and submit assignments
  • Participate in discussions
  • Access Unizin Engage Content (unless opted out) 
    • Senior Guest Auditors are opted-out by default.
  • View inactive courses or unpublished course content
  • Edit or remove course content
  • Edit grades
  • Add other users to course

Role is automatically assigned to users who enroll to audit for-credit courses.

Role manually assigned by instructor.

Other Course Roles

These roles are fairly uncommon and must be manually assigned by a course instructor or Canvas administrator. The roles are usually associated with non-instructional UW staff who play a limited role in setting up or monitoring a Canvas course.

Other Course Roles

Role

Can

Cannot

Use in For-Credit and Non-Credit Courses

Observer

  • View published course content
  • View assignment index
  • Track course participation for one or more student.
  • Access Unizin Engage Content.

See more.

  • View inactive courses or unpublished course content
  • Participate in course activities (discussions, quizzes, assignments)
  • View unpublished course content
  • Edit or remove course content
  • Edit grades
  • Add other users to course
  • View course participants (except the student they are assigned to)

Role manually assigned by course instructor or Canvas administrator. This role can observe the course progress of one or more students without interacting in the course.

At UW-Madison, this role is primarily used for McBurney Staff or Athletic Advisors who have received consent to observe specific students. Contact learnuwsupport@wisc.edu for more information.

Paired observers (Observers tied to track course participation for a specific student) are not permitted on the UW-Madison instance of Canvas for people who are not officially affiliated with UW-Madison (such as parents, visiting instructors, etc.)

Grader

  • View student submissions
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll students
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff

Role assigned manually by instructor. Graders are typically hired by an instructor or department in to assist with large-enrollment courses, and they do not have an official SIS affiliation with the course.

Course Tutor

  • Add, edit, and remove assignments and quizzes
  • View, download, and re-upload assignment submissions
  • View and participate in discussions
  • View participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Conten
  • Add, edit, and remove course content (Pages, Files, Discussions etc.)
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Edit participant grades
  • Enroll students
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff
Role assigned manually by instructor. Course tutors are primarily used to facilitate access for Writing Fellows who are assisting with a course and are typically hired by an instructor or department, and they do not have an official SIS affiliation with the course.

Course Coordinator

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll students
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other course roles
  • View/edit participant grades
  • Access Unizin Engage Content

Role assigned manually by instructor. The course coordinator is typically a departmental chair or admin with responsibilities for monitoring course or updating content.


Departmental admins who need to access all of the courses in their department should consider applying for sub-account admin access. For more information, see Canvas - Account Roles and Permissions [UW-Madison]

Designer

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • View student submissions
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff
  • View/edit grades

Role assigned manually by instructor. This role is typically used by an Instructional Technologist or Instructional Designer who works with the instructor to set up the course structure before instruction begins. They may play a technical support role in the course while it is in progress.

Librarian

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • Move students in and out of course sections
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff
  • View student submissions
  • View/edit grades

Role assigned manually by instructor. Used for Librarians who are working with the instructor on course design or content.

Staff

  • Add, edit, and remove course content
  • Change course status (publish/unpublish, edit start and end dates)
  • Enroll instructors, TAs, and other staff
  • Access Unizin Engage Content
  • Enroll students
  • View student submissions
  • View/edit grades

Role assigned manually by instructor. Used for other UW staff who are assisting the instructor with course design, content, or support.

Account Roles

In addition to the course roles above, some staff members have access to Canvas courses through account roles. Users with account roles are usually IT support staff, instructional designers, or departmental administrators. See Canvas - Account Roles and Permissions [UW-Madison] for more information.

Additional Resources

A detailed breakdown of UW-Madison's course roles is available in the Course Roles Permissions Table.

For more information about Canvas roles and permissions, see Instructure's document: What user roles and permissions are available in Canvas?



Keywordscanvas, roles, permissions, principle, principal, auxiliary, supervisory, course coordinator, TA, observer, instructor, teacher, co-teacher, librarian, add students, guest instructor   Doc ID63420
OwnerLearn@UW MadisonGroupLearn@UW-Madison
Created2016-05-16 10:04:57Updated2023-10-20 11:32:11
SitesDoIT Help Desk, Learn@UW-Madison
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