Canvas @ Yale

Photo Roster Interface Overview

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By default, when you open the Photo Roster, you will be on the "Photos" View of the Photo Roster. The Photo view will give you access to student photos as well as some filtering and printing tools.  

This article will review the different components of the Photo Roster interface.

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Table of Contents

This article will address the following information:

"Photos" View

Instructors, staff support, and non-Yale guest users will not have photos in the Photo Roster. Typically, TAs will also not have photos unless they are currently pursuing or recently received a degree at Yale.

Photo View with elements identified A through H
[A] How to switch to the list view

To switch to the list view, go to the "Roster View" heading and click on "List."

The blue-highlighted option indicates the current view.

[B] How to see the number of users in each course role

In the upper portion of your Photo Roster, you will see a course role summary banner showing you how many people in your course have each course role. If you are using any filters from the "Sections" drop-down, the banner will update to reflect the filtered data.

A course role with zero users assigned to it will not display in the banner.

[C] How to download the photo view roster

In the upper right corner of your photo roster, you will see the export options buttons.

  • Click the "Print Roster" button to print a copy of the photo view of your roster (downloads to your computer as a PDF file).  
  • Click the "Download CSV" button to print a copy of the list view of your roster (downloads to your computer as a CSV file).
[D] How to filter the photo roster by section / How to search for a specific user

If you have multiple sections (including discussion / lab sections) associated with your Canvas site, you can use the "Section" filter to view just the students from a specific section.

  1. To do so, click the "Section" drop down menu.
  2. Select the section you want to view.
  1. If you are looking for a specific person, start typing the name of the user in the "Search" box.
    1. The photo view will immediately be filtered to display only those users that match your search criteria.
[E] How to practice student names using photo roster "hide names" feature

Students feel more engaged and included when their instructor/TA learns their name.

  1. Practice your students' names using the "Hide Names" toggle button located in the upper center portion of the photo view.
  2. When the toggle is in the ON position (toggle is blue), student names are temporarily hidden from the photo view.
    1. To bring the names back, toggle the "Hide Names" slider back to the OFF position.
Text saying "Names are hidden to help with name memorization" while pointing to roster card of students with no "Name" field visible.
[F] How do I sort the photo view?

To sort the photo view of the Photo Roster, you will need to select the radio button for the desired sorting option in the "Sort By" menu.  

  • Last Name - Sorted alphabetically from A-Z (this is the default view)
  • First Name - Sorted alphabetically from A-Z
  • Role (users role within the Canvas course site) - Sorted by role alphabetically from A-Z, then by last name alphabetically from A-Z
  • Year (expected year of graduation)* - Sorted by graduation year (seniors down to first years)
  • Major (primary)* - Sorted alphabetically by major from A-Z

* Instructors, TAs, and guest users will likely not have a Year or Major.

[G] Enrollment Status

The Photo view includes an icon to denote if a user is "Officially Registered" (Green Circle with a Check), a "Manual Enrollment" (Grey Person with Plus Sign), or is a "Temporary Visitor" (Blue Clock). These icons are mapped to the different roles a participant in the Canvas course can have.

Enrollment Status Canvas Course Role
Officially Registered Student
Auditor
Manual Enrollment Guest Student
Temporary Visitor Visitor
[H] Photo Roster List

Each user in your course site will be listed in the Photo Roster list. Where applicable, each user will have the following information in their user card:

  1. Photo - for most students, this will be their Yale ID badge photo
  2. Name - this will be the user's preferred name
  3. Pronouns & pronunciation recording (optional) - Yale students / faculty / staff can elect to set up this additional information in Yale's NameCoach system. The NameCoach data is integrated into our photo roster for users who have set this up.  

NameCoach is a tool where students / faculty / staff can create an audio recording of the pronunciation of their name. Users can also optionally provide their preferred pronouns as well. NameCoach recordings are visible in the Photo Roster tool in Canvas course sites and in the Yale Directory.

  1. Role - this is the user's role within this course site, including the accompanying enrollment status icon
  2. Year - this is the student's expected graduation year
  3. Major (primary) - this is the student's currently declared major
  4. Email link - you can click on this button to open to email this student from your default email client (NOTE:  this is not using Canvas' Inbox tool)

"List" View

The List View is a table-view of your roster which has some additional information that is not available in the Photo View.

[A] How to switch to the photo view

To switch to the Photos view, go to the "Roster View" header and click on "Photos."

The blue-highlighted option indicates the current view.

[B] How to see the number of users in each course role

In the upper portion of your Photo Roster, you will see a course role summary banner showing you how many people in your course have each course role. If you are using any filters from the "Sections" drop-down, the banner will update to reflect the filtered data.

A course role with zero users assigned to it will not display in the banner.

[C] How to download the list view roster

In the upper right corner of your photo roster, you will see the "Download CSV" button. Click the button to download a copy of the list view of your roster (downloads to your computer as a CSV file).

If you need to print the Photo View, go back to the Photo View and click the appropriate button.

[D] How to filter the list view by section / How to search for a specific user

If you have multiple sections (including discussion / lab sections) associated with your Canvas site, you can use the "Section" filter to view just the students from a specific section.  

  1. To do so, click the "Section" drop down menu
  2. Select the section you want to view.
  1. If you are looking for a specific person, start typing the name of the user in the "Search" box and the list view will immediately be filtered to display only those users that match your search criteria.
[E] How do I sort the list view?

To sort the list view of the Photo Roster, just click on the column headers for your roster. The roster will automatically sort the users by the column you select.

The first time you click a header, it will sort the column in ascending order.  Click the header again to sort in descending order.  

For a complete list of the column information in the List view of the Photo Roster navigate to the List View Extended Data section.

List View Extended Data

The Photo Roster's List view has an extended set of columns with other useful demographic and administrative information about the participants in a Canvas Course. The full list of data columns in the List view are:

  • Last Name
  • First Name (user's preferred name)
  • Pronunciation Notes*
  • Gender Pronouns*
  • NetID
  • Email
  • Role (user's role within the Canvas course site)
  • Enrollment Status
  • Section (which course sections the user is associated with)
  • College (residential college)**
  • Major (primary)**
  • Major (secondary)**
  • Program**
  • Year (expected year of graduation)**

* Students must voluntarily provide this information through NameCoach (available to students via the Student Information System)

** Instructors, TAs, and guest users will likely not have this information listed / displayed.

For more help with the Photo Roster, please email [email protected]

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