Adding Users in Canvas

Students will automatically be added to your Canvas course upon enrollment. The course instructor manually adds additional users to a course into any available role.

Standard roles include Teaching Assistants (TAs), Observers, Designers, and Librarians:

  • TAs provide course support and can interact with students.  Cannot create or modify content or access the Gradebook.
  • Observers can be linked to a student and view the student's progress in the course. Observers can include parents, guardians, and/or mentors.
  • Designers can access course content, and create discussions, announcements, assignments, quizzes, and other content. Cannot access the Gradebook. This role is appropriate for instructional designers, instructional coaches, or program managers who work with instructors to design their courses.
  • Librarians similar to the Designer role. This role is appropriate for reference librarians who can help integrate research guides, provide citation guidance, and collaborate on the creation of digital learning initiatives in your course.

Adding a User 

  1. In Course Navigation, click the People link.
    Screenshot of the Canvas course menu with the People option selected.
  2. Click the + People button.
  3. Add users by their Email Address or Login ID.
    • To add by Email Address:
      • Click inside the Email Address radio button.
      •  In the text field, enter the email address of the user. You can copy and paste multiple users simultaneously, such as from a comma-separated value (CSV) file, by placing a comma or line break between users.
    • To add by Login ID:
      • Click inside the Login ID radio button. 
      • In the text field, enter the user name of the user. You can copy and paste multiple user names simultaneously by placing a comma or line break between user names.
  4. In the Role drop-down menu, assign the user(s) a role for the course based on available course roles.
  5. In the Section drop-down menu, assign the user(s) a section in the course.
  6. If you want to limit the user(s) to only interact with other users in their section, click the Can interact... checkbox.
  7. Click the Next button.
  8. If Canvas finds an existing user, you can confirm the user before adding the user to the course.
    • The user's name displays in the page along with the user's information you used in the user search. Although Canvas may display additional search columns, existing information in a user's account will not be displayed.
  9. When you are ready, click the Add Users button.
    • If Canvas did not find your intended user, you can click the Start Over button.
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