Available Roles & Intended Use
| Role |
Intended Use |
| Teacher |
Instructor(s) of Record |
| TA |
Graduate Employee (GE) |
| Designer |
GE, Staff, or Undergrad providing assistance with designing or uploading content |
| Grader |
GE or Undergrad Employees providing grading services |
| Observer |
Any UO member who needs Read Only access to a course. Not intended for students or those auditing a course. |
| Librarian |
Library Staff |
| Learning Assistant |
Staff or Undergraduate Learning Assistants or Lab Assistants |
| Admin Staff |
Staff providing administrative, instructional, or faculty support. (Same access as TA but different name so students don't confuse staff roles as GEs) |
Role Permissions
| Canvas Function |
Teacher |
TA |
Designer |
Grader |
Observer |
Librarian |
Learning Assistant |
Admin Staff |
| Publish Course |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Announcements - Create |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Announcements - View |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Assignments and Quizzes - Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
No |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
No |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
| SpeedGrader - Grade/Comment on Student Submissions |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Grades - View All |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Discussions - Create/Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Discussions - View |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Discussions - Post |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Course Files - Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
No |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
Yes |
| Modules - Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Peer Reviews - Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Pages - Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
Yes (but cannot delete) |
Yes |
| People - View |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| People - Add/Remove |
Yes * |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Groups - Create/Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Group HomePages - View/Access |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Email Students |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes ** |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Email Non-Students |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Calendar - Manage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
* The ability to Add People is limited to adding people in the roles of TA, Grader, Librarian, Designer, Learning Assistant, and Admin Staff. Teachers cannot add students to a course. All student enrollment is controlled by Banner. As of April 2021, Observers can only be added by Canvas Admins. If you need an Observer added to your course, please submit a Service Portal Ticket (opens in a new tab).
** Graders do not have the option to select All In Students in the message To field. They must individually select each student to add to the To field.
