Observer role for coaches

Modified on Wed, 17 Aug 2022 at 11:13 AM

Summary

Within Canvas, the ability exists to assign the role of observer to members within the Canvas environment. Adding observer role to a coach allows the coach to gain insight into details of a student in a course without being enrolled in that course. When a coach has an observer role, they can go directly from StudyCoach to 'Grades' and 'Learning Outcomes' in a specific Canvas course.

Value

From StudyCoach, a coach can easily enter an individual student's course environment as an observer. The insight into grades, assignments, events, and course interactions, gives the coach more tools in (substantively) supervising an individual student.

Roles

StudentTeacherCoach
Department coachManager





Note: This feature might be disabled by the manager.

Table of contents

  Added value of the observer role

  Make coaches automatically observers


Added value of the observer role

When a coach has the observer role, they can look in students' courses without being enrolled in that course. When a coach has an observer role, they can navigate directly from StudyCoach to 'Grades' in a specific Canvas course. In addition, the coach can also look within this course to see what students have accomplished in, for example, tests, assignments, and/or discussion forums. 

  Tip: Afraid that an observer role gives coaches too many options within Canvas? No worries. Observers have limited rights that only allow them to see what is happening in the course for their student. Thus, observers cannot participate, but they can see grades, assignments, events, and course interactions of only the students they observe

Learn exactly what an observer can do in the Canvas Basics Guide.


In short, when a coach is an observer, the coach has more tools to be able to appropriately design individual student counseling and make comprehensively informed decisions. From StudyCoach, a coach can easily enter an individual student's course environment as an observer. 


Make coaches observers automatically

The manager can use the feature setting to allow coaches to become observers of the courses their students are enrolled in automatically. The manager will go to 'Settings' > 'General' and under 'Features' it will say 'Observer creation in Canvas for coaches'. After enabling the feature, there will initially be a synchronization around midnight before coaches become observers automatically.

  Tip: When all coaches have received the observer role, their dashboard in Canvas becomes very large for one time. This is because all the courses of all the students a coach is currently supervising will then be shown on the coach's dashboard in Canvas. With the star method, the coach can easily set up which courses they do and do not want to see on the dashboard in Canvas.


As soon as the coach role is ended, the observer role of that coach over the student(s) is also ended automatically. 


  

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