Canvas - Course Roles and Permissions [UW-Madison]
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.
Role |
Can |
Cannot |
Use in For-Credit Courses |
Use in Non-Credit Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Teacher |
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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 It has been replaced by Principal Instructor, Supervisory Instructor, or Auxiliary Instructor.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. |
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Co-Teacher |
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The role is not recommended. It has been replaced by Principal Instructor, Supervisory Instructor, or Auxiliary Instructor. |
Role assigned manually by instructor. |
Principal Instructor |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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.
Role |
Can |
Cannot |
Use in For-Credit Courses |
Use in Non-Credit Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Student |
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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 |
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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.
Role |
Can |
Cannot |
Use in For-Credit and Non-Credit Courses |
|---|---|---|---|
Observer |
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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. 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 |
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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 |
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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 Monitor |
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Role assigned manually by instructor. Used for those who wish to review a course's content and participant interactions, such as departmental administration or accreditation. |
Course Coordinator |
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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] |
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Designer |
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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. |
Instructional Designer |
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Role assigned manually by instructor. This role is also typically used by an Instructional Technologist or Instructional Designer who works with instructors. Besides the additional course administrative abilites, the primary difference between this role and the Designer role is the ability to view and edit grades. Consideration should be made whether or not this ability is necessary to complete the design/support work when selecting between these two roles. |
Librarian |
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Role assigned manually by instructor. Used for Librarians who are working with the instructor on course design or content. |
Staff |
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Role assigned manually by instructor. Used for other UW staff who are assisting the instructor with course design, content, or support. |
Access Staff |
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Role assigned manually by instructor or by McBurney Center staff. Used primarily for those assisting with services, such as interpreting, captioning, etc. |
Access Observer |
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Role assigned manually by instructor or McBurney Center staff. Used primarily for those assisting with services, such as interpreting, captioning, etc. |
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* - Effective August 1, 2024, the Librarian role will be able to "View student submissions" and "View grades". |
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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?