ECU limits access to curricular courses in Canvas to faculty and students registered to teach or take a course. Only the Instructor of Record may grant course access to ECU faculty, staff or external guests. The Banner system controls the student enrollments for curricular courses.
There will be occasions when faculty need to enroll additional course members for the purposes of activities such as peer review, accreditation, sharing course content, or to host a guest speaker. The faculty member or an ITCS Canvas Administrator must add additional course members, in order to ensure appropriate approvals and documentation are received. When faculty or ITCS Canvas Administrators add additional participants to a course, they must select the appropriate course role and ensure compliance with the provisions of FERPA.
If faculty need to invite a course member (e.g, Guest Lecturer, Peer Reviewer, Accreditor, etc…) external to ECU, they must submit a Canvas Support ticket through the Help Desk to request an external account. Faculty can learn more about this process in the ITCS Service Catalog. Access to and use of Canvas is subject to the Academic Computer Use Policy and the Student Conduct Process. Per these policies, accessing individual faculty member’s computers to enforce university policies requires specific approval of the chancellor.
Only certain course roles contain privileges to view gradebook, student work or interactions protected by FERPA. According to FERPA, any information that is not considered Directory Information may not be disclosed to anyone except the student without prior written consent. For details about Directory Information, visit the Office of the Registrar’s FERPA page. There are exceptions to this rule. Institutions may release information from student records (that is not considered Directory Information) without prior consent to school officials with legitimate educational interest (e.g. one faculty member to another) and to Federal, State, and local authorities involving an audit or evaluation of compliance with educational programs (e.g. NCAA).
Below is a list of the most typical scenarios and recommendations for course roles, along with a brief description of the privileges assigned to each role. This list does not include technical support roles. Modifications of these role permissions and additional roles can be made on a case-by-case basis with approval of the Registrar.
Course Roles
Course Roles
| Role |
Purpose/Time Frame |
Permissions |
Process |
Primary Roles
|
|
Teacher
|
The person teaching or facilitating the class.
|
Instructor has access to all areas in the course. Instructor can add and remove guests from the course. Banner controls Canvas student enrollments. Additional instructors should only be added through the Banner Feed since Instructors can change grades in the gradebook. Adding only through the Banner Feed ensures the institution has an accurate understanding of who is teaching the course.
|
Instructor of Record is assigned in Canvas through the Banner Enrollment feeds.
|
| Teaching Assistant (TA) |
To assist Instructor with developing, teaching or facilitating the class.
This role may be assigned indefinitely or on a time-limited basis. Decisions on time frame are left to the discretion of the instructor of record.
|
TA has similar privileges as Teacher including gradebook access.
This role CANNOT add or remove users from the course or elevate another user’s role
|
Faculty adds TA to course and selects appropriate course role that ensures compliance with the provisions of FERPA.
|
| Learning Assistant |
Helps with interactive learning in the classroom.
This role may be assigned indefinitely or on a time-limited basis. Decisions on time frame are left to the discretion of the instructor of record.
|
has similar access to a TA including access to course content (add/edit/delete) groups, and discussions. Learning Assistants do not have access to the gradebook. |
Faculty adds Learning Assistant to course and selects appropriate course role that ensures compliance with the provisions of FERPA.
|
| Student |
This course role is assigned to students enrolled in a class.
|
Has access to grade book, course content, and assessments.
Please Note: An student should never be elevated to a TA because of the additional privileges that role provides within the course. If anyone is approved to audit a course this must be coordinated with the Office of the Registrar. The Office of the Registrar is the only one who should add a student to a course for the purpose of auditing the course.
|
Students are enrolled in a Canvas class through the Banner Enrollment feeds. |
Instructional Support
|
| Designer |
A research assistant, instructional designer or an assistant with limited responsibilities.
May be assigned indefinitely or on a time-limited basis. Decisions on time frame are left to the discretion of the instructor of record.
|
Has access to most areas of the course. Does not have access to the gradebook.
|
Faculty adds Designer to course and selects appropriate course role that ensures compliance with the provisions of FERPA. The faculty member should remove the Designer when access is no longer needed. |
| Guest Lecturer |
Class participants who are external to ECU.
May be assigned indefinitely or on a time-limited basis. Decisions on time frame are left to the discretion of the Instructor of Record.
|
Can view content and view/post to Discussions. Users do not have access to the gradebook or any content area that has a gradable item. Note: Once this role is applied to a user in a course, the role under the People menu will say “Observing: nobody” under the role column and not “Guest Lecturer”.
|
Faculty member must request external accounts using the ECU Canvas Help Request. Additional licensing costs may be associated with some external accounts. After account is created faculty adds Guest Lecturer to course and selects appropriate course role that ensures compliance with the provisions of FERPA. The faculty member should remove the Guest Lecturer when access is no longer needed. |
Administrative
|
| Chair |
Can be made available to a Department Chair for business purposes. Business purpose includes but is not limited to absence of instructor, grading, accreditation, and teaching review. Business purpose does not include access for an investigation into misconduct or to enforce policy which requires Chancellor approval.
This role is assigned indefinitely.
|
Has access to course content, test, assignments, discussion forums, groups, gradebook and users. The Chair role cannot edit or delete content. |
Instructor of Record for the course must be informed prior to Chair access. The instructor can enroll their Department Chair or the Department Chair can submit a Canvas Help Request for an ECU ITCS Canvas Administrators to provide access. Documentation the faculty was informed should be retained by the Chair or administrator who accessed the course. |
Accreditation, Course Review, Peer Review
|
| Course Reviewer |
Course visitors who need access to course content, interactive tools, assessments, and users.
Role may be assigned indefinitely or on a time-limited basis. When no longer needed, the faculty should promptly remove the role from the course.
|
Has access to course content, tests, assignments, discussion forums, groups, and users. Course Reviewer cannot edit or delete content and does not have access to the Grade Center. The Course Reviewer role cannot edit or delete content. |
Faculty adds Course Reviewer to course and selects appropriate course role that ensures compliance with the provisions of FERPA. The faculty member should remove the Course Reviewer when access is no longer needed. |
| Observer |
Course visitors who need access to course content.
May be assigned indefinitely or on a time-limited basis. When no longer needed, the faculty should promptly remove the role from the course.
|
Has access to course content. An Observer cannot edit or delete content, view users, or access the Grade Center. Note: Once this role is applied to a user in a course, the role under the People menu will say “Observing: nobody” under the role column and not “Observer”.
|
Faculty adds Observer to course and selects the appropriate course role that ensures compliance with the provisions of FERPA. The faculty member should remove the Observer when access is no longer needed |
Special Considerations for Course Content Access
Course content developed by a faculty member can in most cases be made available to others for use in teaching a course. For example, Faculty A develops a course while working at ECU and in the future Faculty B is assigned to teach the course. In this example, the course content can be made available to Faculty B.
In this scenario, the faculty member who created the course should be asked to share the content or make the content of the course available. ITCS Canvas Administrators can be contacted by the faculty member to assist with making the content available should assistance be required.
In the event the currently employed faculty member is not available or does not make the content available in the required time frame, the chair of the department is considered the custodian of this data and should put in a Canvas Help Request via the ITCS Help Desk to make the request for access to the course content.
If the faculty member is no longer an employee, the chair of the department is considered the custodian of this data and should put in a Canvas Help Request via the ITCS Help Desk to make the request for access to the course content.
As a condition of employment, EHRA Employees shall be deemed to have granted the University a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferrable, royalty-free license to use Traditional or Non-Directed Works and Sponsored or Externally Contracted Works owned by them for the University’s own education or research use, unless such license will impede scholarly publication or similar activities, or violate provision of a contract between the EHRA employee and a third-party. Any questions regarding usage should be directed to ECU's Copyright Officer and to the Copyright Regulation.