Canvas Roles

Canvas Roles

Canvas has various course-level roles with permissions that allow a user different course-level access. Canvas provides 5 base roles (Student, Teacher, TA, Designer, Observer), but the UO has additional roles available. This resource provides an overview of the permissions associated with each role.
Related Topics: Canvas People & Groups, Canvas

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.