Roles are collective sets of permissions and limitations placed on a user in Canvas. Canvas permissions are assigned to roles, and allow users with those roles to access certain features and perform certain functions.

Key things to note before you continue:

Canvas roles are separated into: sub-account level roles, and course-level roles.
While base roles are provided by Canvas, a number of custom roles have been created for Canvas use at Oxford, serving users that do not fit into base roles.
This page outlines the names and permissions of each of the custom roles in use for Oxford's instance of Canvas.

1. Sub-account roles at Oxford

Unit Administrator
Assistant Unit Administrator
Local Canvas Coordinator
Auditor
Library and College Admin Staff

Unit Administrator

A Unit Admin operates on the sub-account level with permissions that cascade down to the course level.
Individuals with this role can add or remove other account admins or add, edit and manage global announcements etc.
Unit Administrators can access and edit all courses within their unit, without being enrolled on them.
This role was designed to meet the requirements of department or college administrators who administer multiple courses, enabling them to perform their duties with a non-restrictive role.

Unit Administrator Roles Expl Graphic

Assistant Unit Administrator

Assistant Unit Administrators can access all courses in their unit.
This role allows the user to act in a supporting role with actions such as uploading course files or adding, editing and deleting calendar events etc.
This role restricts the user from adding or removing other admins in the sub-account, and adding, editing or deleting global announcements.
This role was made in response to a requirement for users in a supporting role to departments, or college admins, to be able to function as support users with powers on a sub-account level. This allows them to work on multiple courses without the need to be enrolled on every course that they are linked to.

Assistant Unit Admin Role Expl Graphic

Local Canvas Coordinator

A Local Canvas Coordinator is someone who shows other users in their unit how to use Canvas. This user is expected to be trained and skilled in how to use Canvas.
This role gives the person sub-account administrative powers that enable them to access all areas of Canvas.
A LCC is expected to act as the contact person between their local unit and the central Canvas team. They are the in-house Canvas expert for departments, faculties, schools and colleges, providing 'how to’ assistance on using Canvas features.

LCC Role Expl Graphic

Auditor

The Auditor role serves Oxford users such as the Proctors office. It may also be used at the sub-account level for users with a similar audit role in a Division, Department or College.
This role was created to serve the Proctors in Oxford who need to be able to view all courses (in a read only format) in Canvas, or for users who need to view all courses in their unit’s sub-account in a read only format.

Auditor Role Expl Graphic

Library and College Admin Staff

There are three 'audit' (view only) roles that can be assigned at any particular sub-account level: Bodleian Librarian, College Librarian and College Admin. These roles allow librarians and college admin staff to view all Canvas courses and their content within a particular sub-account.
These roles do not give the user power to add, edit, delete or attach reading lists within any particular courses. If that is required, the staff member should negotiate with their Local Canvas Coordinator and/or the course owner.
If agreed, the course owner could enrol the librarian or college administrator in any course(s) where edit access is required. Please see the section on course-level roles to ascertain which level of editing would be appropriate.
Alternatively, there is a Library Editor sub-account role that enables subject librarians to add and edit ORLO reading lists within a course.

2. Course-level roles at Oxford

Teacher
U18 Teacher
Observer
Course Designer
Course Administrator
Tutor Observer
Grader
Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistant Editor
Student
U18 Student
Student Observer

Teacher

The Teacher role is a base role in Canvas. It is an essential role for academics who teach on a course and has editing and grading permissions enabled.
Note: Canvas users with the Teacher role can override the term dates in Course Settings but cannot change the term.

U18 Teacher

This special role is a slightly modified version of the regular teacher role with limitations in place to ensure safeguarding of younger students, predominantly the inability to use direct messaging.

Observer

Observer is a base role currently not in use at Oxford, however, two custom roles based on the Observer role have been created for use in Oxford.

Course Designer

The Course Designer role is a base role.
While the University of Oxford does not currently have a use case for this role, it is not possible to rename or remove base roles, so this role will remain available on Canvas.

Course Administrator

The Course Admin role is a custom role designed for users who have administrative responsibilities and need the same powers as Teachers in order to maintain Canvas courses.
Course admins have the same permissions as the Teacher role. This role helps to differentiate them from Teachers for reporting and support purposes, as well as displaying users with the appropriate real-life role in the People tool.

Tutor Observer

Tutor Observer is one of two custom roles based on the Observer role.
This is a non-editing (unattached Observer role) role that allows the user to view courses but not participate in them. An unattached observer means that the user is not attached to any student in the course. The user views the course in 'read only' mode with no participation options. This role may suit visiting lecturers who wish to see lecture materials in specific courses. They can be granted access to specific course site(s) to view the course(s).
This role suits users who want access to view courses without being able to participate or make any changes to the course content. Also, this role meets the requirements of users who want to access Canvas in ‘read only’ mode and do not want to receive many notifications.
Users with the Observer role can optionally be attached to a particular student in order to monitor their progress. This is suitable for college tutors who wish to observe their tutees and follow how they are doing in departmental teaching.

Grader

The Grader role is a custom role designed for teachers who only need to grade in Canvas. This role allows the user to mark student work but not edit content.
Teaching Assistants who need to grade should be assigned this role.

Grader cropped

Teaching Assistant (TA)

The Teaching Assistant (TA) role is a base role designed for TAs who need to facilitate activities such as discussions, groups etc. Editing and grading permissions have been disabled for this role.
Some units do not require their TAs to mark or edit course materials or activities; this role allows for the variations that are required for TA’s to fulfill their duties according to their department’s specifications.
This role is best thought of as a TA Facilitator, but it is not possible to rename this base role.

Teaching Assistant (TA) Editor

TAs at Oxford are usually students or other assistants who teach; TA Editor is a custom role made to suit these individuals.
This role allows the user to edit course content and facilitate teaching (eg by posting to discussions and creating web conferences). It is designed for TAs who do not need to grade.
This role has no grading permissions.

Student

The Student role is a base role that allows the user to see course content, participate in course activities, participate in discussions, take quizzes and tests, submit assignments, set up collaborations etc.
This role is suitable for students on a course or programme of study.

U18 Student

This special role is a slightly modified version of the regular student role with limitations in place to ensure safeguarding of younger students, predominantly the inability to use direct messaging.

Suspended Student

Suspended students are students who have suspended their studies. Currently, they are provisioned in Canvas using the Concluded status.

Concluded status

Oxford policy dictates that students who have suspended their studies should be given access to learning materials. Suspended students are currently provisioned in Canvas using the Concluded status. This status involves concluding the user’s enrollment, which allows them the following access in Canvas: login , read announcements, view learning materials, view past and new assignments, read forum posts.
Concluded students can view past and new assignments, but they cannot submit answers to them.

Student Observer

Student Observer is a custom role based on the Observer role.
This role allows the user to access courses on a read only basis.
This role differs from the Student role because no course participation is allowed so they cannot join in discussions, view lists of participants, create conferences, participate in collaborations etc.
This role is suitable for Student Course Viewers described as students who take a course without the benefit of a grade or credit.

A user's permissions are determined by the role(s) the user is assigned.
Roles and their permissions are 'cumulative'; that is, if you add someone to your course site multiple times, assigning them a different role each time, they will have the combined permissions of each role you assigned.
See also our FAQ: Which roles can view unpublished content in a Canvas course?