Automated Course Creation
The Division of Information Technology has implemented a new procedure that will allow all courses to be created automatically in Canvas. Course shells (now including 900-level courses) will be created based on the schedule outlined below, and once course creation is complete instructors will have the ability to edit and make changes to their courses.
Student rosters will automatically be kept in sync with KSIS with student drop/adds happening in near real-time. Changes to the course in KSIS will be reflected in the Canvas course.
Course Creation Schedule
Automatic Course Creation will be conducted on the following schedule.
- Spring Courses—Creation begins September, the year prior
- Summer Courses—Creation begins March of the same year
- Fall Courses—Creation begins March of the same year
Created Courses
Once courses have been automatically created, instructors will be able to access their course and make any edits or changes they would like. Possible edits include: change the default grading scheme, start and end dates, instructor of record, and course name. Enrollments will automatically be added to the courses as they occur. To have a 900 level course created, contact the IT Service Desk: Submit a Ticket, or Start a Live Chat.
Course Access
By default, students will have access to their courses in Canvas 7 days prior to the first day of class. Students will lose access to their courses in Canvas 7 days after semester grades are posted in KSIS.
Instructors retain access to their courses for one semester after classes have ended, then the course will be concluded. When a course is concluded, the instructor will have read-only access to the course. For example, instructors can access their fall course during the following spring semester, but not the next fall. This allows instructors the ability to make changes in the Gradebook and handle incompletes. As a result, instructors will always see courses from their current semester and the past semester in their Canvas course list.
Once a course is concluded, instructor-based roles will no longer have the same access in the course and will result in loss of course functionality and user information. If full functionality is still required for instructors, but the course is set to conclude the instructor must explicitly set an end date of the course. Otherwise, instructors should allow their course to conclude through the automated process. If courses are manually concluded, all enrollments are removed from the course and placed in the prior enrollment page.
Cross-listing
Cross-listing allows instructors to create a section in one account and then move that section to a course in a different account. Since courses in Canvas are created at the section level, instructors may want to combine or “cross-list” their sections into a single course that they can teach across the sections. For step-by-step instructions, view the How to cross-list course sections in Canvas article.
If you need help with cross-listing your courses, complete this form. You will need to identify the class/reference numbers for the sections you wish to cross-list.
Course-Level Roles
Course-level roles are roles with permissions set at the course level. Usually, these roles cannot see more than what is in the course. When the KSIS roles of Primary Instructor, Secondary Instructor, or TA are added to the courses automatically, they are added in the Teacher role. When you add someone manually, you have the roles below available to you.
Below are the Canvas roles. Canvas provides the potential for roles that appear only in a specific college or department's set of courses so if you feel you need a special role; please contact Scott Finkeldei.
| Permissions | TA | Grader | Librarian | Teacher | Designer | Observer |
| Read SIS data | X | X | X | |||
| Add, edit and delete events on the course calendar | X | X | X | X | ||
| Add/remove other teachers, course designers or TAs to the course | X | |||||
| Add/remove students for the course | X | X | X | X | ||
| Change course state | X | X | ||||
| Create and edit assessing rubrics | X | X | X | X | ||
| Create student collaborations | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Create web conferences | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Edit grades | X | X | X | X | ||
| Manage (add / edit / delete) assignments and quizzes | X | X | X | X | ||
| Manage (add / edit / delete) course files | X | X | X | X | ||
| Manage (create / edit / delete) course sections | X | X | ||||
| Manage (create / edit / delete) groups | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Manage alerts | X | |||||
| Manage all other course content | X | X | X | X | ||
| Manage faculty journal entries | X | X | X | |||
| Manage learning outcomes | X | X | ||||
| Manage wiki (add / edit / delete pages) | X | X | X | X | ||
| Moderate Grades | X | |||||
| Moderate discussions (delete/edit other's posts, lock topics) | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Post to discussions | X | X | X | X | X | |
| See the list of users | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Send messages to individual course members | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Send messages to the entire class | X | X | X | X | X | |
| View all grades | X | X | X | X | ||
| View all students' submissions and make comments on them | X | X | X | X | X | |
| View analytics pages | X | X | X | X | ||
| View and link to question banks | X | X | X | X | ||
| View discussions | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| View the group pages of all student groups | X | X | X | X | X | |
| View usage reports for the course | X | X | X | X | X |