Collaborative Space / Assessment Course Add and Remove Users

Collaborative Space and Assessment Course Definitions

A Collaborative Space is a specialized Canvas course environment designed to centralize academic resources and relevant information for students within a specific academic program or unit (e.g., college, school, department, or division). Serving as a web-based platform, a Collaborative Space consolidates information from various sources, presenting students with easy access to essential content in one streamlined interface. These spaces are not intended for interactive academic activities (such as submissions or assessments) but are purely informational. Collaborative Spaces can be developed either in Canvas or Google Classroom.

Assessment Courses are Canvas course environments created to store and manage student artifacts (work samples), evaluations, and assessments within an Academic Unit. These courses facilitate end-of-term or program-wide assessments and archiving, serving as a repository for student data required by the institution for evaluation and accreditation purposes. Examples include onboarding documentation, exit surveys, and comprehensive exams administered by the Academic Unit. Students are only added to Assessment Courses when needed for assessment purposes and have limited interaction. 

Identify Students

Identify the names of the students that need to be uploaded into your Collaborative Space Section at the beginning of the semester. 

(Optional) The Canvas Collaborative Space Majors List SQL Report can provide this information. You will need access to the Student folder under SQL Reports to access the Canvas Collaborative Space Majors List report. Contact the Service Desk if you need access to the Student folder. Review Home > Students > Canvas Collaborative Space Majors List

1. Open the Canvas Collaborative Space Majors List SQL Report

2. Select School, Department, Major, Level, and Campus

3. Click View Report

4. Click the Export icon and select CSV (comma delimited)

5. Open the Canvas Collaborative Space Majors List.csv file and copy Column G the PORTAL_NAME column (do not copy the header)

Add or Remove Users

Teachers in the Collaborative Space and Assessment Course are responsible for managing user access. A Teacher has permission to manually add or remove any role as needed, ensuring flexibility in user management based on the evolving needs of the Collaborative Space and Assessment Course.  Review How do I add users to a course?

• Review User Roles and Permissions Available in Canvas

• Only users with TWU Canvas User Accounts can be added as users in the Collaborative Space or Assessment Course.

• The Collaborative Space Owner must submit a Canvas Support case to have new Sections created in the Collaborative Space or Assessment Course.

• (Optional) Paste the PORTAL_NAME data from the Canvas Collaborative Space Majors List.csv into the Add People > Login IDs (required) field to add all the users with the same role at once.

  1. Users manually added must accept the invitation. The option to import users into a Collaborative Space using an Excel spreadsheet is no longer available beginning Spring 2025.

• Submit a Canvas Support case to import users into an Assessment Course using an Excel spreadsheet. Users added with an Excel spreadsheet will automatically be added to People in the Assessment Course. An Excel spreadsheet is created that includes the following information for each student that needs to be added to the Assessment Course:

  1. Column A – The TWU user name of the student to be added to the Assessment Course

  2. Column B – The Section that the user needs to be added into in the Assessment Course

  3. Column C – TWU ID (9-digit number that begins with 9)

Identify the users to be removed from your Collaborative Space. Manually remove individual users from the Collaborative Space. Review How do I remove an enrollment from a course?

• Do NOT remove students from an Assessment Course. Removing a student who has submitted assignments or assessments will erase access to their submissions, grades, and activity logs. This data is crucial for maintaining accurate academic records and for future needs like grade disputes or auditing purposes. 

• If a student is enrolled in multiple sections, remove them from individual sections as needed. They will still have access to any other sections in which they are enrolled.

• The Collaborative Space Owner must submit a Canvas Support case if unable to Remove a Student in the Collaborative Space.

(Optional) Manually Create and Add Students to Groups

Consider using Canvas Groups or Canvas course sections for communication. For example:

• Announcements - Instructors can send announcements to all students in a course or to a specific group or section. Announcements are sent to students based on their notification settings and are available on the Canvas course Announcements page. 

• Inbox - Instructors can use the Canvas Inbox to communicate with students in a course, a specific group or section, or an individual student. Inbox is similar to an email system, and allows instructors to consolidate all Collaborative Space related communication in one place. 

• Assigning Content - Instructors can assign modules and pages to groups or course sections. This can be used to differentiate the content by Academic program, division or cohort.

A Student can only be added to one Group in a Group Set. Create multiple Group Sets if you need to organize the same Students into different cohorts. 

The first Group Set will be the name of the Collaborative Space program, division, or cohort. If you need multiple Group Sets, rename the first Group Set Collaborative Space Section – A and create a second Group Set with the name Collaborative Space Section – B. 

For example, the Collaborative Space Section is named Dance:

1. If you need only one Group Set the name will be Dance. 

2. If you need multiple Group Sets, the first Group Set will be Dance – A and the second Group Set will be Dance – B, etc.

To manually create one or more Group Sets, Groups within the Group Set, and add Students to groups complete the following:

1. Create the Group Set(s). Review How do I add a group set in a course?

2. Manually create Groups in a Group Set leaving the Limit groups to blank. Review How do I manually create groups in a group set?

3. Manually assign Students to Groups. Review How do I manually assign students to groups?

Use the Inbox to send messages to Students in the Collaborative Space Section or Group. The steps include:

1. Click Inbox from the Global Navigation menu.

2. Click the Compose a new message icon.

3. Select the Collaborative Space course.

4. Click the Address Book icon next to the To field.

5. Clicking an item in the list with a blue arrow expands it, allowing you to drill down to select the Collaborative Space Section or Group.

6. Enter a Subject.

7. Type your announcement/message in the field provided.

8. Add attachments or record audio/video comments, if desired.

9. Click Send.

Announcements are sent to all Teachers and TAs in the Collaborative Space, as well as to Students in the specific Collaborative Space Section. Use the Inbox feature if Collaborative Space Owners have requested not to receive messages from Sections they do not own or manage.

Support Options

1. Contact an Instructional Designer to ensure that the Collaborative Space and/or Assessment Course is well-organized, accessible, and optimized for user needs.

2. Canvas Support will be available 24/7 by phone, live chat, or email through the Help menu within Canvas after you have logged in. For more information see How to Contact Canvas Support. 

   1. Submit a Canvas Support case to create a new Section in the Collaborative Space and/or Assessment Course.

   2. Submit a Canvas Support case to import users into an Assessment course using an Excel spreadsheet.

   3. Submit a Canvas Support case if you are unable to Remove a Student in the Collaborative Space.

3. If you are unable to log in, please contact the Technology Service Desk at 940-898-3971 or servicedesk@twu.edu for assistance.