How to Add People to Canvas Courses

Canvas courses automatically receive enrollments from CAESAR daily; however, there may be times when you need to add someone to your course who is not listed in CAESAR.

Adding People to Current Courses

Any additional users (such as program assistants) will need to be added manually to your Canvas course site. You will need their NetID.

To add someone to your course site:

1. In Canvas, navigate to your course.
2. Click the People tab in the left-hand course menu.
3. Click the blue + People button in the top right.
4. Enter each user's NetID into the Add user(s) by NetID box.
   You can use commas or line breaks between NetIDs.
   See this guide on how to find someone's NetID at Northwestern.
5. Select the Role for all of the NetIDs to be added. (See Canvas Course Roles and Permissions for what permissions each role has)
6. Click the Next button.
7. In the Add People confirmation window, check that all the users are correct.
8. Click the Add Users button.

Adding People to Concluded Courses

To add a user to a concluded course, you will need to first un-conclude the course.

1. In Canvas, navigate to your course.
2. Click the Settings tab in the left course navigation.
3. Scroll down to the Participation section.
   • For Registrar courses (those connected to CAESAR-based registration), participation is defined by Course dates, which are visible in Canvas.
   • For custom-created courses, participation is defined by Term dates. These term dates may be open or set to the dates specific to that course. Instructors may set their custom course site's participation dates.
4. Adjust the course end date to be past the current date (and make note of the previously listed end date of the course), then click the Update Course Details button at the bottom of the page.
5. Add the user using the Adding people to current courses method described in the previous section.
6. Click the Settings tab in the left course navigation to go back to the Participation section.
7. Change the course End date back to the previously listed date.
8. Click the Update Course Details button at the bottom of the page.

Requesting New Canvas User Account Creation

Most Canvas accounts are created automatically through Canvas’s synchronization with CAESAR, which occurs three times a day on weekdays and twice a day on weekends. After a new student or teacher has been enrolled in a course within CAESAR, that person’s enrollment is sent to Canvas, and a Canvas user account is automatically generated at that time.

Generally, people who will not automatically have Canvas accounts created for them are visitors at Northwestern or users with affiliate NetIDs. A broader group of Feinberg School of Medicine users, including residents, some faculty, and some incoming students, may not have Canvas accounts automatically generated for them.

If you or someone you are supporting needs a Canvas account manually created, you may email the Northwestern IT Support Center at consultant@northwestern.edu and request the creation of a Canvas user account. Provide the NetID of the user in your email so your request can be processed with ease. At this time, the Support Center is creating all Canvas accounts that require manual creation.

Finding a User's NetID

To look up a user's NetID in the Northwestern Directory:

1. Go to the Northwestern Directory.
   If you're off campus, you'll need to use the Northwestern VPN in order to view NetIDs.
2. Click the [display additional details] button below the search bar.
3. Search for the user by name or email address.
4. Click the [more] link under their name in the search results.
5. Copy their NetID.