Need to add a colleague to your Canvas course as a TA, designer, observer, or another role? Canvas makes it easy to enroll people with specific permissions so they can support your course in the right way. Whether you're bringing in a co-teacher, assigning a grader, or giving a guest limited access, this guide will show you how to add someone to your course and choose the role that matches what they need to do.
**We do not recommend adding students to your course. Please work with the Educational Technology team to add students to your course**
Select the course you would like to add someone to :
Using the side navigation, click on the "People" section:
Click on the "+People" button:
Type in the email address of the instructor you would like to add, select their role (this example shows teacher) and select "Next":
Please note: The default role is Student.
The person you invited will have immediate access to the course and will be sent and email with a direct link.
Below are all of the roles that are available and what they have access to do in general. Please know that specific permissions are made at a campus level. Please reach out to Educational Technology with further questions.
- Teacher: The teacher role grants a user course admin permissions, giving them control over their assigned course or courses. However, institutions can revise and limit these permissions as needed, depending upon the needs of your institution.
- TA: These users have permissions similar to teachers except that TAs should not have access to SIS data. The TA role is meant to support the teacher role. Admins can manage TA permissions. For example, some institutions may permit TAs to grade student submissions.
- Designer: These users are permitted to access and create course content, including announcements, assignments, discussions, and quizzes, but they cannot build or edit New Quizzes. Designer access to student information varies by institution, but they do not have access to grades. If your institution does not use Course Designers, you may choose to use this role as another TA user role that has more permissions than a regular TA.
- Observer: This user role can be linked to a student user enrolled in a course. For example, parents, guardians, and/or mentors may wish to be linked to a student to view their course progress. Observers usually have the fewest permissions.