Canvas: Roles and Permissions
What roles and permissions are available in Canvas?
A user's permissions are determined by the role(s) the user is assigned. Roles and their permissions are cumulative. Consequently, if you add someone to your course site multiple times, assigning that person a different role each time, he or she will have the combined permissions of each role you assigned.
Important: Users in the Teacher, TA, and Grader roles can view and edit student grade information. Any Non-Rice user who will hold one of these roles must complete the FERPA Tutorial and submit the Rice University Instructor:Teaching Assistant Agreement before being assigned to the role in Canvas. The document needed for a Non-Rice TA is linked at: RiceUniversityInstructor:TeachingAssistantAgreement.docx
Following are the course roles currently available at Rice:
| ROLE | PERMISSIONS |
|---|---|
| Teacher | For instructors and assistants who need full access to the Canvas features for instruction |
| Librarian | Assistants who need access to the tools necessary to assist in managing course content. Has limited ability to interact with students and has no access to grades or grading. |
| TA | Has access to all Canvas features for instruction, with exception to managing announcements and moderating outcomes and grades. |
| Non-grading TA | For teaching assistants who do not need the ability to grade. |
| Grader | For individuals who will be grading items in Canvas. The Grader role is based on the TA role, but has more limited permissions enabled. Graders can view all course content including assignments, quizzes, and discussions; however, unlike users in the TA role, Graders cannot edit course content. |
| Designer | For instructional designers (and staff with similar responsibilities) who write and manage course content, but do not actually teach courses or grade student work |
| Student | For students officially enrolled in the course only. |
| Observer | For users who have no official role in the course, but have been given permission to view course content and discussion forums; for more, see What is the Observer role?in the Canvas Observer Guide. |
For specific permissions see below:
| PERMISSIONS | STUDENT | TA | GRADER | NON-GRADING TA | TEACHER | DESIGNER | OBSERVER | LIBRARIAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course and account permissions | ||||||||
| Add, edit, and delete events on the course calendar | * | * | * | * | ||||
| Add/remove other teachers, course designers, or TAs to the course | * | |||||||
| Add/remove students from the course | * | * | * | * | ||||
| Change course status | * | * | ||||||
| Create and edit assessing rubrics | * | * | * | |||||
| Create student collaborations | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| Create web conferences | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| Edit grades | * | * | * | * | ||||
| Manage (add/edit/delete) assignments and quizzes | * | * | * | * | ||||
| Manage (add/edit/delete) course files | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| Manage (add/edit/delete) pages | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| Manage (add/edit/delete) course sections | * | * | ||||||
| Manage (add/edit/delete) groups | * | * | * | * | ||||
| Manage alerts | * | |||||||
| Manage all other course content | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| Manage learning outcomes | * | * | ||||||
| Moderate grades | * | |||||||
| Moderate discussions (delete/edit other's posts, lock topics) | * | * | * | * | ||||
| Post to discussions | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Read SIS data | * | |||||||
| See the list of users | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||
| Send messages to individual course members | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||
| Send messages to the entire class | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| View all grades | * | * | * | |||||
| View all students' submissions and make comments on them | * | * | * | * | ||||
| View analytics pages | * | * | * | * | ||||
| View and link to question banks | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| View announcements | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| View discussions | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| View the group pages of all student groups | * | * | * | * | * | |||
| View usage reports for the course | * | * | * | * | * |