There are times when you may need to give someone access to course content. There are a number of ways to do this, with some being better based upon the needs of the user.
When manually adding users to a course, be sure to protect student FERPA protected data. You can see the access different course roles have available at Canvas Course Role Permissions. You should also be sure to select the option Can interact with users in their section only.
Choose the Login ID option in the +People pop-up window when adding users rather than Email Address. For netID users, the Login ID is the netID. For guest accounts, the Login ID is their email address.
Adding Cornell Faculty/Staff/Students Who Have Canvas User Accounts
- If you need to add a TA or admin to your course, you can do so via the Registrar. Adding users via the Registrar will ensure proper tracking of who has access to student data.
- If you want to allow campus-wide access to the course (excluding Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions) to anyone with a link to the course, you can change the course visibility to Institution.
- If you want to allow full access to your manually-created course (including Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions) campus-wide, you can enable self-enrollment via a join code or secret URL.
- If you need to add students to a course before they have been added for the coming term, you can manually add them to the course, but you will also need to change the course start date, being sure to also check the box next to Students can only participate in the course between these dates.
Once users are manually added to a course, their enrollments will no longer be managed by the Peoplesoft feed from Faculty Center. Any changes to sections or drops will need to be manually handled by the Teacher, Course Admin, or TA.
Adding Cornell Faculty/Staff/Students Who Don’t Have Canvas User Accounts
If you need to give a Cornell user access to a course, but they do not have Canvas access or you cannot find them in the Canvas system, they will need to contact Canvas@Cornell.edu to request the creation of their Canvas account. Once their Canvas user accounts have been created, you can manually add the user to your course.
Adding Non-Cornell Users Who Don’t Qualify for a NetID
- If you need to give a non-Cornell user access to a course, please contact Canvas@Cornell.edu for information on how to request a non-Cornell Canvas account. Once their Canvas user accounts have been created, you can manually add the user to your course.
- If you want to allow worldwide access to the course (excluding Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions) to anyone with a link to the course, you can change the course visibility to Public.
Adding Users to Courses from Previous Semesters
Students have read-only access to a Canvas course after a semester has ended. They may need to go to Courses > All Courses to see courses from previous semesters.
- If it is a student who needs to finish an incomplete by submitting assignments/quizzes/discussions, contact Canvas@Cornell.edu. CTI will be able to create a separate section for the student, set with the current applicable dates for their interaction with the material.
- If it is a faculty/admin/TA needing to access prior course materials, contact Canvas@Cornell.edu and request a sandbox. You can then import the course content from the previous course into the sandbox and manually add the user to the sandbox.
