Canvas Access Guidelines

In accordance with Baylor University’s Technology Systems Usage Policy (BU-PP 025), course content or academic records in Canvas are presumed to be private and confidential unless they have been made available to other authorized individuals or as required by law.  Information in Canvas may be accessed only by authorized personnel for compelling University business or security reasons which includes access by individuals providing support to end-users, access by students in published courses, and other access necessary for providing access to and support of resources in Canvas.  These guidelines have been created with guidance from the Office of General Counsel, Office of the Registrar, and the Chief Information Security Officer in order to ensure the accuracy, integrity, and security of course records in Canvas.

Invited Users

Instructors within courses in Canvas are permitted to invite anyone else at Baylor into their courses as necessary as long as the role which is assigned to the user within the course complies with Baylor's guidelines pertaining to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Most guests should not have a course role higher than "student" or "designer” in Canvas.  Teaching Assistants may be assigned the role of “TA” or “grader” as appropriate.

Baylor departments can request Canvas login credentials for non-Baylor users. However, guest accounts will not be created for new or existing faculty, staff, or students who should access Canvas using a Bear_ID secured with DUO. Departments with newly-hired adjunct faculty who do not yet have an active Bear ID should work with HR for the new employee to be added as a Pending Worker in order to gain Canvas access before their start date.

Administrative Access

At the request of a Dean, certain employees may be given access to all courses within a department for the purpose of providing technical support, user support, or accessing analytical data related to the courses within that department.

Course Content

The course content within a course in Canvas is presumed to be the intellectual property of the instructor-of-record for that course.  Requests for access into someone else’s course for the purpose of viewing or copying course content will be denied without the express written consent via email of the instructor-of-record.  Exceptions to this can be made in extenuating circumstances when the request for access is approved by the appropriate Dean and only in situations where the instructor-of-record is unable to make this request.  No attempts will be made to restore content that has been deleted or otherwise removed by the instructor-of-record.

Academic Records

Requests for access into someone else’s course for the purpose of accessing academic records for compelling university business such as submitting final grades in an instructor’s absence will only be permitted when the request for access is approved by the appropriate Dean and only in situations where the instructor-of-record is unable to make this request.  No attempts will be made to restore records that have been deleted or otherwise removed by the instructor-of-record.

User Records and Access Logs

All requests for electronic usage logs, course records, or other course content beyond those already available to instructors within each Canvas course – including those needed to investigate academic dishonesty – should be submitted to the Chief Information Security Officer or the Vice President for Information Technology.  The request must be accompanied by the approval of the President or the appropriate divisional Vice President or their designee.