Canvas Access Requests & Shell Creation

ETS helps faculty in adding users to their courses (with certain limitations), as well as creating non-credit shells in Canvas. These requests can be submitted through email – please review the following information in order to familiarize yourself with the process and levels of access we support.

Canvas Access Requests

Canvas roles are managed through two separate systems – SIS and manual management.

Here at ETS, we can only assist with adding manually managed roles (with the exception of granting temporary access while appointments are being processed – more information below).

There is a total of 11 roles, each with different permissions. For a full breakdown of each role and what they are capable of, please refer to CTLT’s Canvas Roles and Permissions comparison chart. Highlighted below are the different roles we support and the permissions needed to grant access to each one.

Non-Credit Shell Creation


All credit shells (official course shells) in Canvas are automatically created by SIS once the course is confirmed, and students and instructors are automatically populated in the shell. This process can not be expedited by ETS – official shells must be created through SIS. However, ETS can create non-credit shells for faculty upon request. These shells are often used as instructor sandboxes (an open, private shell to experiment with Canvas), course development shells, cohort shells, communication shells, and more. If you are interested in having a non-credit shell created for any purpose in Canvas please contact ETS at ets.educ@ubc.ca. All access requests for non-credit shells are fully manually managed and don’t need any external permissions – users can be added with any role upon the request of the shell owner, as long as they have a CWL.