Manually Add Users to a Course
VCU does utilize Student Information System (SIS) Imports via Banner to automatically enroll users into their respective courses; therefore you do not need to add any users who are part of VCU's records for the course. However, you can invite users to join your course at any time by using the Add People button in the People page. Secondary instructors, TAs, and any other role would need to be manually enrolled by the primary instructor of the course.
Notes:
Course invitations are not sent until the course is published.
Enrollments are added by VCU's student information system (SIS). If an enrollment includes an SIS ID, you cannot add an enrollment to the course.
Course Invitations
When an enrollment is manually added to a course:
- Canvas generates a course invitation once the course is published.
- Courses must be published for students to receive course invitations.
- The user must accept the course invitation to participate in the course.
- Until the user accepts the course invitation, the user's status will display as pending.
Note that when a user receives an enrollment invitation for a custom role, the invitation displays the name of the base role. - Users are not sent a course invitation until the course start date. (The start date is commonly the term date, unless the term is being overridden by a specific course or section date in Course Settings.)
Please note that users invited to a course in an observer role are not sent a course invitation unless they do not already have a Canvas account. Observer enrollments without a Canvas account must create an account before they can log in to the course.
User Roles
When manually adding users to a course, you can add a user to any available role, including custom roles as created by your admin.
- Canvas generates a course invitation once the course is published.
- Courses must be published for students to receive course invitations.
- The user must accept the course invitation to participate in the course.
- Until the user accepts the course invitation, the user's status will display as pending.
Note that when a user receives an enrollment invitation for a custom role, the invitation displays the name of the base role. - Users are not sent a course invitation until the course start date. (The start date is commonly the term date, unless the term is being overridden by a specific course or section date in Course Settings.)
Please note that users invited to a course in an observer role are not sent a course invitation unless they do not already have a Canvas account. Observer enrollments without a Canvas account must create an account before they can log in to the course.
Standard Roles
Teaching Assistants (TAs), Observers, and Designers:
- TAs provide course support and have some or all of the same permissions granted to instructors.
- Observers can be linked to a student and view student progress in the course. Observers can include parents, guardians, and/or mentors.
- Designers can add other users to the course, access course content, create discussions, announcements, assignments, quizzes, and other content filled features. This role is appropriate for instructional designers, instructional coaches, or program managers who work with instructors to design their courses.