Canvas - Enroll Students in a Non-Credit Course

This article presents three methods for adding participants to Canvas courses. Option 1 involves self-enrollment URLs, preferred for UWM and Universities of Wisconsin audiences, allowing easy sharing and no login requirements. Option 2 invites users via the People tool, suitable for non-UWM/UW users, enabling mass enrollment through email. Option 3 offers course enrollment via Canvas Catalog, ideal for certificate programs and public links, but involves external logins and administrative steps.

Option 1: Invite participants to your course using a self-enrollment ("special" or "secret") URL

For most cases where the audience is at UWM or part of the Universities of Wisconsin, this is the preferred method of adding participants to a course.

Applicable courses

  • This method can be used in Supplemental, Continuing Education and Training/Development courses (courses with codes starting with UWM.S, UWM.C and UWM.T).
  • Supplemental and Training/Development courses only allow inviting people with UWM or Universities of Wisconsin email accounts (including UWM sponsored accounts).
  • Continuing Education courses allow inviting people with or without UWM /Universities of Wisconsin emails.

Pros

  • Self-enrollment URLs can be published online (ideally behind a login of some kind to control access) or shared in an email.
  • (Continuing Education users) people can choose their own name and email address when creating their account.
  • No invitations need to be accepted.
  • The participant does not need to login before being invited.

Cons

  • (Continuing Education) creating new accounts can be a complicated task.
  • Only students can be added using this mechanism.

How to invite participants with a self-enrollment URL

Option 2: Invite instructors and participants to your course using the People tool

For circumstances where people from outside of UWM and Universities of Wisconsin need access to a course, this method is preferred.

Applicable courses

  • This method can be used in Supplemental, Continuing Education and Training/Development courses (courses with codes starting with UWM.S, UWM.C and UWM.T).
  • Supplemental and Training/Development courses only allow inviting people with UWM or Universities of Wisconsin email accounts (including UWM sponsored accounts).
  • Continuing Education courses allow inviting people with or without UWM/UW emails.

Pros

  • Enroll many people at once using email addresses.
  • (For UWM/Universities of Wisconsin users) an invitation to the course appears on the person's Canvas Dashboard as well as in email.

Cons

  • (Continuing Education users) if a name is misspelled, the new user must correct it on their own. If an email address is misspelled, a new invitation must be sent because there is no way to edit the email address.
  • Email invitations may be considered spam.
  • (Supplemental and Training/Development users) UWM/Universities of Wisconsin users need to either be taking a course, or need to login at least once to the Universities of Wisconsin Canvas service. If they do not, instructors will be unable to add students using the People tool.

How to invite users using the People tool

  • See "How do I add users to a course?" in the Canvas Community for detailed instructions.
    • Search by email.
    • Continuing Education courses can use the "Add New User" functionality.
  • Email your students a link to the course homepage. Students can click the link and accept the invite if they haven't already done so.
  • If students need to be invited again, see "How do I resend student invitations to a course?" in the Canvas Community.

Option 3: Offer the course in Canvas Catalog

For certificate programs, pre-college programs and other programs where a public link may be needed, this is the preferred method.

Applicable courses

  • This method is only available to Continuing Education courses (codes that start with UWM.C).

Pros

  • The course can be listed in a public space, or shared privately with a URL.
  • The landing page for a course offers contextual information about the course, including description, cover art and the nature of the course.
  • Certificates can be issued upon completion of a course.
  • Courses can be organized into programs with pre-requisite courses.
  • Enrollment caps can be set for a course.

Cons

  • The invitation and registration process for UWM and Universities of Wisconsin participants is not done through Canvas directly. This may confuse some people.
  • UWM/Universities of Wisconsin participants may create their own login which can cause administrative and support issues. It will also mean the participant will not see the course using their Canvas Dashboard.
  • Making changes to the Catalog page requires assistance from a UWM Canvas Administrator, or school/college catalog administrator.

How to use the Canvas Catalog

  • Create your course and set the start and end dates for your course. See "How do I change the start and end dates for a course?" in the Canvas Community for instructions on how to set dates.
  • Contact CETL or your school/college Canvas support office for assistance in creating the Catalog page.
    • Prepare an image and supporting information for use on the promotion page for your course. Provide the following information for the Catalog page:
      • Course Title
      • Whether the course should be open-enrollment
      • An image (in JPG, PNG or SVG format), and alternate text should the image be un-usable or unavailable
      • A short paragraph summarizing the course and a full description
      • The number of days expected to complete the course (if applicable)
      • The number of credits (if applicable)
      • The enrollment cap and waitlist cap (if applciable)
      • Whether you want the course page to be publicly browsable by visiting uws-ce.catalog.instructure.com, or hidden (which means it will only be accessible by direct link)
  • A catalog URL will be provided to you to share, and if you stated that the course should be publicly viewable, it will be visible in the UWM Continuing Education catalog.

For further assistance

  • Continuing Education offices should contact your department's designated Canvas Support or department leadership for assistance first.
  • Instructors and administrative staff in-general should reach out to CETL.

Keywords:
Canvas courses, participants, enrollment methods, self-enrollment URLs, People tool, Canvas Catalog, UWM, UW Administration, Universities of Wisconsin, Continuing Education 
Doc ID:
103742
Owned by:
David D. in CETL
Created:
2020-07-08
Updated:
2024-12-08
Sites:
UW-Milwaukee Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning