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Canvas Policies

 

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Canvas Policies

Learn more about the following policies:

Canvas Accounts

Note: All Onyen users must have active affiliation with UNC in order to log into Canvas.

Instructor/Staff: Canvas access begins on/after official hire date once all onboarding processes have been completed. Instructor/Staff maintains access to Canvas while they have active affiliation with UNC. Canvas access ends when University employment ends. Refer to additional notes below about retirement.

Student: Canvas access begins on or after matriculation when all onboarding requirements are complete and there are no holds on the student account. Students maintain access to Canvas while they have active affiliation with UNC. Canvas access ends immediately after leaving the University.

Retiree: If a faculty or staff member retires, they retain Canvas access indefinitely because they have active affiliation as retirees.

Non-Onyen Canvas Guest Account: Canvas access begins when the guest account is created and the guest has accepted the invitation and logged into Canvas. Guest accounts will be suspended after one year of inactivity (i.e., user unable to log in) and deleted after four years of inactivity (i.e., all data removed). Note these are guest accounts specific to the Canvas system and separate from the University’s UNC Guest accounts used to access ConnectCarolina.

Course Site Creation

Canvas sites for University Registrar courses are automatically created. The exact date when University Registrar courses become available in Canvas depends on when rosters are finalized by the Registrar. Sites are typically created following this schedule:

  • Fall Semester: Mid-May after Spring Commencement of the same calendar year
  • Spring Semester: Mid-October during Fall Break of the previous calendar year
  • Summer Sessions: Mid-March during Spring Break of the same calendar year

Faculty and staff may request a Canvas site at any time to develop a course in preparation for a future term or to build a site for other University-related work. Please see Canvas Request Forms.

Course Site Access

For Current or Upcoming Term

Instructors and Teaching Assistants

Instructors with the following roles in ConnectCarolina will automatically get access to their Canvas courses. If you do not see your course on your Canvas Dashboard or on your Courses > All Courses page, please contact your departmental course scheduler to list you as one of the following in ConnectCarolina for each course roster you are teaching:

  • Primary Instructor
  • Secondary Instructor
  • Proxy
  • Dean’s Designate
  • Teaching Assistant

If an instructor cannot be added to the official roster in ConnectCarolina for whatever reason, anyone with the Teacher role on the Canvas site may grant them access. It is best to add UNC users with their Onyen. Select “Login ID” instead of “Email Address” and follow the steps on adding them to the Canvas site.

Note on Teaching Assistants: The TA role in Canvas is automatically granted access to student submissions and grades. If you have a TA who should not have access to student records, assign them the Designer role. Instructors are responsible for ensuring that their TAs adhere to FERPA requirements.

Students

Students enrolled in a course through ConnectCarolina will automatically be added to the course in Canvas. Waitlisted students will not have access until officially enrolled, and dropped students will have their access revoked. Add/drop updates from ConnectCarolina will typically appear every few minutes in Canvas but it can take up to an hour.

Student access in Canvas courses is dependent on two things: 1) The course is published and 2) Course start and end dates. By default, the course start date is set to when courses are first created in Canvas. This is to avoid having instructors set a course start date in addition to simply publishing their sites to grant students access. The course end date is set to the month after a term ends. Unless an instructor changes their course end date, student access is automatically removed on these dates:

  • Fall Semester: January 1
  • Spring Semester: June 1
  • Summer Session I (includes Maymester): July 1
  • Summer Session II: August 1

Instructors may wish to set different course dates depending on when they would like student access to begin and end. Instructors can update course Settings by switching the course Participation from “Term” to Course” and setting the applicable dates and access restrictions.

Note: Non-registrar Canvas sites do not have dates associated with them and are available to students indefinitely once published. Site owners may add start and end dates to restrict access if needed.

For Past Term

Note: If you do not see your course on your Dashboard, it may be listed on your Courses > All Courses page in Canvas.

Canvas course access is automatically removed following this schedule:

  • Fall Semester: January 1 (two years after term ended for Teacher role)
  • Spring Semester: June 1 (two years after term ended for Teacher role)
  • Summer Session I (includes Maymester): July 1 (two years after term ended for Teacher role)
  • Summer Session II: August 1 (two years after term ended for Teacher role)

Teacher: Instructors with the Teacher role in a Canvas course retain access for two years from the end of the month when the term ended. Contact help.unc.edu for assistance once you no can no longer access your old course sites.

TA/Designer: Teaching Assistants and Designers retain access to course sites through the end of the month when the term ends. Contact the course instructor for assistance beyond that date.

Student: Students can typically expect to have access to course sites through the end of the month when the term ends unless the instructor specified a different end date. Contact Instructor directly with questions if access ended before that date or to request continued access beyond that date.

Incomplete Grades: Instructors may grant access to individual students with an Incomplete grade or for other reasons. Please follow the steps outlined in the FAQ “Give Student with Incomplete Grade Access After Course Has Ended.”

Student Work: Students can access course sites until the end of the month when the term ends unless the instructor has set a different course end date. Contact Instructors directly with any questions about accessing sites from previous semesters. Save copies of all important submissions (Essays, Projects, etc.) to retain access after the term ends. Before leaving the University, consider saving any documents, resources, and contact information that you may want to reference during internships, graduate school applications, and future careers. Alternatively, instructors can access student content submitted to the site to share with the student if their access has been removed. Instructors have access for two years after the term ends.

Granting other users access: If users not on the course roster in ConnectCarolina need access to the Canvas course site, they should contact the instructor for assistance. The instructor may grant them access. It is best to add UNC users with their Onyen through the People tool in Canvas. Select “Login ID” instead of “Email Address” and follow the steps on adding them to the Canvas site. If the +People button is grayed out on the People page, the instructor will need to temporarily reopen the course to re-enable it. In the course Settings, switch the Participation from “Term” to “Course,” enter an End Date in the future, and click Update Course Details. The +People button should now be clickable to add the user to the site. Once added, re-close the course by switching the course Participation back to “Term” in the course Settings. Note this may make the site briefly available to students again. If the previous instructor is no longer affiliated with the University, please contact your Unit support for next steps. If Unit support is unavailable, request assistance through help.unc.edu and provide written consent from your Dean or Department Chair.

Privacy

  • HIPAA: Storage of Protected Health Information (PHI) in Canvas is not permitted.
  • FERPA: Canvas is designed to share FERPA-protected information privately between instructors and individual students.
  • Canvas: Instructure Canvas privacy and security policies.

University Policies

Honor System

All students must refrain from lying, cheating, and stealing, as well as from engaging in conduct that significantly impairs the welfare or educational opportunities of others in the university community. This includes refraining from all forms of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism. Your full participation and observance of the Honor Code is expected at all times.

Please consult the following if you have any questions about your responsibilities under the Honor Code:

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