Learning Management System Guidelines

Who has access to the Canvas LMS system? Students, faculty, and staff. Access is limited to individuals with a valid DU ID number. For guest access, all requests must go through the Office of the Registrar via the Community Member Form. We will not permit anyone into the LMS without valid DU credentials. 

How are non-DU individuals (e.g., guest lecturer’s) provided access to a course and when is this access terminated? Due to FERPA concerns, non-DU individuals are not allowed access to Canvas sites without requesting access through the Office of the Registrar. The access is terminated immediately after leaving DU and/or upon request. 

Are DU faculty members required to use Canvas? Yes, as of Fall 2021 all courses require a Canvas presence, including online, hybrid and fully face-to-face. To learn more about the minimum requirements visit the Canvas home page. 

How long before the quarter starts do faculty and students gain access to a course? Faculty gain access to their course containers at least one quarter/semester before the course begins. It is then up to the instructors to publish the course for students to gain access. It is best practice to publish the course one to two weeks prior to the start of the quarter/semester.

How long past the end of the quarter/semester do students retain course access? Access to past courses varies by course, department and college. Students may retain access until they graduate and/or leave the institution unless otherwise noted by the instructor. 

How is access for administrative oversight provided? There may be times that a dean, department chair, or educational technology support specialist must have administrative access to the LMS. Access must be requested through the OTL, where FERPA training and Canvas Admin training is required. 

When is user access disabled for faculty/staff who are no longer employed at DU? As with other DU resources, the LMS may be accessed for 90 days after leaving the university. There may, however, be exceptions to access based on administrative directives. Canvas Admin access will be immediately terminated upon leaving DU. 

Are instructors allowed to add users (manually) to a course site? Instructors are not allowed to manually add students to academic courses. Students are automatically added to academic courses through Banner based on academic registration. Instructors may add additional users, such as Observers, Teachers, Designers and TA’s. 

While copyright law protects the rights of creators and users of works, the doctrine of Fair Use provides us with the ability to share and advance information, ideas, and images with fewer restrictions. Links to the original sources should be used for publicly available material whenever possible. For any copyrighted materials used in instruction, the following steps should be taken to obtain copyright permissions and/or demonstrate Fair Use:

• Obtaining Copyright Permissions: E-reserves should be used for text-based copyrighted content. When requesting material through E-reserves, copyright permissions will be obtained by the library. To request material through E-Reserves, be sure to follow the steps outlined in the Faculty Guide to Reserves. 
• DU CourseMedia should be used to obtain video-based copyrighted content. To request material through CourseMedia, complete the library e-reserve web form.
• Images to which the rights are owned by DU or LMS Guidelines, the individual instructor (through purchase or subscription, e.g. Microsoft Clipart, images purchased from the creator, etc.) do not require citation.
  
• For all other images, including open source images, proper citation should always be provided as a demonstration of good faith toward Fair Use. Please refer to the OTL Guide to Using Images for Instruction for specific examples.

How are existing copyright policies communicate to faculty and students? The DU Library maintains a LibGuide on Copyright and Fair Use. There is also a Fair Use policy listed on the DU website. 

• For official academic courses, LMS course shells are created through automated integration with the University’s student information system approximately 9 months before the course begins. 
• LMS Administrators have the authority to create master course shells. 
• All other requests for course shell creation are evaluated by the LMS Account Administrator on a case-by-case basis, please reach out to the OTL with any questions. 

• For official academic courses, all users are automatically enrolled in course shells through an integration with the student information system when the student registers in the course. 
• Students are not enrolled manually in any official academic course.  
• Those who require access to a non-academic course container must contact an LMS Administrator to request enrollment. 

• Course Shells will be retained and managed in accordance with the University’s Records Retention Schedule.  

Can I share my Canvas login credentials with someone else? No. DU’s Acceptable Use policy states that “Users who have been authorized to use password-protected accounts may be subject to both civil and criminal liability if they disclose passwords or otherwise make accounts available to others without permission of appropriate system administrators.” This policy applies to anyone using the Canvas LMS. Sharing Canvas passwords shares all DU data. 

How are grade information and other protected data kept secure? DU employees are required by law to protect confidential student information, including that found in Canvas (e.g., ID numbers, grade information, course registration, etc.). Only Teachers, TAs, and Canvas Administrators can see grade information for students; guest users are granted student-level privileges. For more information, consult the FERPA Guide for University of Denver Employees. 

What safeguards are in place to prevent students from uploading files that may contain malware or other dangerous code? The Canvas system automatically scans files and sanitizes code entered into the content editor.

What campus unit pays for the LMS license? IT pays for Canvas as a centrally-supported resource (similar to email, for example). 

Who is authorized to decide whether to renew (or not) the license? Any decision to change from one LMS to another will be discussed by a committee that will then make a recommendation to the Provost for the final decision. This process will not be undertaken lightly and such decisions will involve faculty input. 

The following represents user types and permission restrictions for users in Canvas at DU: 

• Student: Students are permitted to submit assignments.  Student permissions are restricted, but they have enough permissions to  access and interact with course materials. 
• Teacher: The teacher role grants a user course admin permissions, giving them control over their assigned course(s). Teachers are not able to add/remove students to course containers. They are able to add/remove TAs and observers. 
• Observer: This user role can be linked to a student user enrolled in a course or strictly to observe course content. They are not able to submit assignments or engage with other students. 
• TA: These users have permissions designed to support teachers with creating and editing content as well as managing the gradebook and student assignment submissions. 
• Designer: These users are permitted to access and create course content, including announcements, assignments, discussions, quizzes, and content pages. Designers cannot access the gradebook. This role is recommended for TAs who should not have access to students grades. 
• Non-Academic Teacher: This role is similar to the teacher role, except it is allowed elevated privileges to add/remove students. This role is only to be assigned in non-academic courses, typically used in sandbox containers. 
• Support Admin: This role has set permissions for specific sub accounts in Canvas. Contact the OTL to request this permission.