In your academic course sites, you have access to two (2) roster tools: the People tool and the Photo Roster.
People Tool
The People tool is used for viewing enrollments and manually adding users to your course site. The People Tool is automatically populated every 2 hours with official user enrollments based on the registration system data. If there is a user enrolled in your course with one of these roles, their enrollment likely came from the registration system - if one of these users needs to be removed, that would need to be done in the registration system which will then update Canvas within 2 hours.
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Instructor | Official Instructor of record (matches Yale Course Search) |
| Student |
Officially registered student user |
| Auditor | Officially registered auditor user (paying for credit that does not count towards a degree program) |
| Visitor | User who is interested in the course, but not officially registered (only appears during early registration and add/drop periods) |
Instructors and TAs can manually add users to the course site using the People tool. Any user that is manually enrolled can be removed by an instructor or TA in the course.
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Guest Instructor | Instructor-level role for users who are not the official instructor but need instructor-level access to the course. |
| TA | Teaching Assistant role which has nearly identical access as the Instructor role. |
| Guest Student | A fully-functional Student-level role which can be used for students unofficially auditing a course. |
| Accessibility Support | Reserved for users who are assisting Instructors with making course materials more accessible or users who are assisting students with accommodation needs. |
| ULA | Role reserved for Undergraduate Learning Assistants. |
| Viewer | Role to be used for users who need to view some course content but should not be allowed to participate or complete assignments. |
Photo Roster
The Photo Roster provides photos of your enrolled students and additional student information that is not stored within Canvas. The Photo Roster tool can be a useful tool that instructors can use to be more inclusive. Learning student names can be one of the most effective ways to establish a productive environment. Use of student names has been shown to build community; increase student engagement by helping them feel more comfortable; make students feel more accountable to the instructor; make students more comfortable seeking help; and increase student satisfaction with a course (Cooper et. al 2017, Murdoch et. al 2018, O’Brien et. al 2014).
Having a photo roster or list of all students enrolled in your course will help you engage with students on Canvas, Zoom, and other digital channels. You can download a photo roster and excel file from your Canvas course site.
Please note, only Canvas users with an “Instructor” or “TA” role can see the Photo Roster tool. The tool will not appear in the course navigation menu for any other user type.