Add and Manage Users

Add Users (TAs, Visiting Instructors, Designers and Tutors) to your course

Table of Contents

  1. Navigate to your course.
  2. Check if your students are enrolled by clicking on the People link in the course menu.
    1. If your students are NOT listed, you must link your course to the Registrar sections (see the Prepare to Teach guide) before adding users.
    2. If your students are listed, continue to the next step.
  3. Click on ISU AdminTools on your course navigation.
  4. Choose Manage Additional People.
  5. Enter the Net-ID in the textbox.
  6. Choose their role with the Role drop-down menu.
  7. Determine which specific registrar section the user requires student data access; then, select it with the Section drop-down menu (or choose All Sections)
  8. Click the Add button

For example: If a TA is ONLY working with your students in Section 7 – add them directly to that specific course section in ISU AdminTools, enter their net-id, choose which role with the drop-down menu, and select Section 7 in the Section drop-down menu.

Note: If the user does not have a university Net-ID, you can Create an Affiliate User.

Use the ISU Admin Tool to add TAs, Tutors, Visiting Instructors, etc.

Course Roles and Permissions

Note: If you want a user to have Full Instructor (Role 1) privileges within your course, you will need to contact your departmental administrator to add them as an instructor in the course.

Teacher

  • The Teacher role is automatically assigned to the Instructor of Record, as designated by their department via the Registrar’s office.
  • The Teacher role has full access and control over Canvas course content and student data, gradebook, and course settings.
  • The Teacher role has access to Global Course Administration to enroll registered students and ISU AdminTools to adjust settings, add course users, and submit grades.

Co-Teacher

  • The Co-teacher role has access to view and edit Canvas course content, gradebook, and course settings.
  • The Co-teacher may only view users in the specific section(s) to which they have been granted access.
  • The Co-teacher role can access Global Course Administration to create Canvas courses and ISU AdminTools to adjust settings and add course users but cannot submit grades.

TA (Teaching Assistant)

  • The TA role has access to view and edit the Canvas course, gradebook, and course settings.
  • The TA may only view users in the specific section(s) to which they have been granted access.
  • The TA cannot access ISU AdminTools and cannot add course users or submit grades.

Designer

  • The Designer role can view and edit course content and settings.
  • The Designer role cannot access student information, including submissions and grades.

Guest Lecturer

  • The Guest Lecturer is a custom role at Iowa State University. This role provides view-only access to all course content, including unpublished content, and the ability to participate in Canvas course communication, such as discussions and messages.
  • Guest Lecturers do not have access to students’ submissions or grades.

Observer

  • The Observer role provides view-only access to published course content and the course interactions of a specific student(s) to whom they are assigned.
  • Observers are unable to participate in a Canvas course in any way and cannot view other course users.

Note: Students who are monitored in this way are aware of this action.

Peer Reviewer

  • The Peer Reviewer role is a custom role at Iowa State University that provides access to view published course content.
  • Peer Reviewers do not have access to student grades or submitted work, nor can they view other course users.
  • Peer Reviewers can access assignments, discussions, and quizzes to which they are assigned.
  • This role was created specifically for peer observers and interpreters.

Tutor

  • Tutor is a custom role at Iowa State University that provides view-only access to published course content.
  • Tutors cannot access student grades or submitted work, nor can they view other course users.
  • This role was created specifically for course tutors.

Curriculum Reviewer

  • The Curriculum Reviewer is a custom role at Iowa State University created specifically to facilitate program reviews, competency tracking, and accreditation.
  • Curriculum Reviewers may only access content in courses they are explicitly assigned to, and access is removed at the review’s end.
  • A CELT representative works closely with a program under review to create custom access for this role.

Create affiliate user

ISU Canvas courses may only include people with an ISU Net-ID. You can sponsor a new Net-ID for a person who is neither a student nor employee of Iowa State University, but still has an affiliation with the University.  This affiliation can be as a visiting scholar, scientist, researcher or for another university business purpose, as determined by the administrative officer or their delegate.

It is expected that the sponsored Net-ID will be terminated when that business purpose has been fulfilled. A university employee may request to sponsor a Net-ID by logging into Account Services on the Web (ASW) page and selecting “Manage Sponsored Net-IDs” followed by “Request a New Sponsored Net-ID”.

  • Select New Affiliate Net-ID for people outside the university. These Net-IDs must be reviewed/renewed every spring (by March 1) and fall (by October 1).
  • Select New Role Net-ID for ISU business functions. These Net-IDs must be reviewed/renewed every fall (by October 1).

Select an appropriate approver. The approver is responsible for reviewing the reason the Net-ID is being requested and for working with the sponsor to terminate the Net-ID when appropriate.

At the designated time, a renewal reminder will be sent to the sponsor of the Net-ID. If the sponsor wishes to renew the Net-ID, they will need to send a reminder to an authorized approver.

Canvas Observer Role Frequently Asked Questions

There are students at Iowa State University who require timely academic monitoring to help support their academic performance and progress towards graduation, and to meet external reporting requirements; this includes many student-athletes. The observer role in Canvas assists Athletics Academic Advisors (full-time professional staff in Athletics) with monitoring a student-athlete’s academic progress throughout the semester in compliance with NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) guidelines.

The observer role in Canvas is a ‘view only’ role. Observers can view course announcements and some course materials. They cannot view quizzes or exams that are administered through those features in Canvas. An observer can only view the gradebook entries for the specific student-athlete(s) they are assigned to. The observer role is limited to only full-time, professional academic advisors within the Office of Student Athlete Development.

Yes. Each student-athlete knows who their athletics advisor is, and each student-athlete assents to the advisor viewing their gradebook entries in Canvas. A student-athlete completes this approval process each semester.

Athletics advisors in the observer role are trained and educated to respect intellectual property rights. Each of these academic professionals signs a confidentiality nondisclosure agreement and completes FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) training each year.

There will be communication prior to the start of each semester to all faculty/instructors of record who have a student-athlete(s) enrolled in their Canvas course. The athletics advisor assigned to the student-athlete will be added to the Canvas course in an observer role at the beginning of the semester.

In the past, instructors may have noticed multiple observers/athletic advisors names in their course. Each advisor was assigned to an individual student-athlete based on their sport. However, in large courses there are often student-athletes from multiple sports enrolled. Athletics, IT and CELT are currently working on a solution to reduce the number of individuals in an observer role in each course. The goal is to have one or two athletics advisors in the observation role for all student-athletes in a given course.

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