Faculty, students, colleagues, and other community members from outside of Yale University may need access to Canvas @ Yale course sites as they are participating officially or unofficially in a course. Please follow these steps to request either a single Canvas User sponsored identity or bulk Canvas User sponsored identities for non-Yale users.
Canvas User sponsored identities are active for up-to 18-months. These sponsored identities can be renewed / reactivated to extend access beyond this initial access.
All users who receive a sponsored identity, regardless if they have a Canvas User sponsored identity, are given a Yale NetID and an account is made for them in Canvas @ Yale.
Canvas User sponsored identity accounts are not automatically added to any Canvas course sites.
Table of Contents
This article will address the following information:
Single Canvas User Sponsored Identity Account Requests
To complete the request for a single Canvas User sponsored identity, you will need to be logged into Yale's VPN or access the form while on Yale's campus internet.
- Go to the Guest Account Request Form and select the "No, I am requesting only one Canvas Sponsored Identity" option.
- Click the "Request a single Sponsored Identity" button to navigate to the Sponsored Identity system.
- Select “Canvas User” from the list of Sponsored Identity types.
- If you are looking for a secondary test account for yourself, please use the “Testing / Training IDs” Sponsored Identity type.
- If the Sponsored Identity recipient needs more than just Canvas access, then please reference this Sponsored Identity resource page.
- Fill out the form and click the "Submit" button. The form has the following fields:
- Start & End Dates (Required) - Canvas User sponsored identities can be active for up-to 18-months.
- First Name (Required) - Should be the user's preferred name as this will be what appears in Canvas. This does not need to be their legal name.
- Middle Name (Not Required)
- Last Name (Required)
- Date of Birth (Required) - Used by the guest user to activate their NetID once created.
- Email Address (Required)
- Address (Required) - This can be your department's address—the sponsored identity does not need the user's personal address.
- US Phone Number (Required) - This can be your department's phone number—the sponsored identity does not need the user's personal or home phone number.
- Business Reason (Required) - Why this user needs guest access to Canvas @ Yale.
- Sponsoring Department (Required) - Identify which department is requesting this Sponsored Identity's access to Canvas.
- Be sure to select "Yes" on the "Do you want a NetID Activation Pin to be issued" option.
- Failure to request a NetID Activation Pin will mean that the Canvas User will not be able to activate their NetID to access Canvas.
- Use this ITS form to request an Activation Pin if the initial Canvas User sponsored identity request elected not have an Activation Pin generated.
Please allow 3-5 business days for these requests to be completed. You will be notified when the guest account has been created.
Single Requests: Communication & Activation
The Education Technology team at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning processes Canvas User sponsored identity requests but does not email sponsored identity users about account creation or activation. Instead:
- The Sponsor Identity system will email the Requester about the creation status of the Canvas User(s).
- When the NetID has been created, the Requester will be emailed from the Sponsor Identity system with the Canvas User's NetID and Activation Pin.
It is the Requester's responsibility to inform the user of their NetID and unique Pin, enabling them to activate their Canvas User sponsored identity for access to Canvas @ Yale.
Once the Canvas User has their NetID and Pin, the Requester should direct them to our Activating a Canvas User Sponsored Identity support article for detailed activation instructions.
Bulk Canvas User Sponsored Identity Account Requests
Header names must not be modified in the template file. Any deviation in the Row 1 header titles for the columns will cause the bulk account creation to fail, and the file will be sent back to the requester for revision.
Issues with data formatting that does not comply with the formatting conventions identified in this support article or in the template file itself will result in the file being sent back to the request for remediation.
Be sure to remove the example data on Row 2 in the template file prior to uploading the file back in the form.
- Go to the Guest Account Request Form and select the "Yes, I am requesting more than one Canvas Sponsored Identity" option.
- Download the Bulk Guest Account Template file. Fill in the template file by completing the provided columns.
- The information you will need to provide in the template columns include:
- First Name (Required) - Should be the user's preferred name as this will be what appears in Canvas. This does not need to be their legal name.
- Middle Name (Not Required)
- Last Name (Required)
- Date of Birth (Required) - Must be in MM/DD/YYYY format.
- Email Address (Required)
- US Phone Number (Required) - Must be in XXX-XXX-XXXX format. For all users please use your department's phone number—the sponsored identity does not need the user's personal or home phone number.
- The information you will need to provide in the template columns include:
- Fill out the "Requester Information" fields in the form:
- Requester Full Name
- Yale NetID
- Yale Email Address
- Fill out the "Sponsoring Department Information" fields in the form:
- Sponsoring Department Name
- Program Name
- Street Address
- City
- State
- Zip Code
- Fill out the "Bulk Sponsored Identity Information" fields in the form:
- Start Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
- End Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
- The End Date cannot be longer than 18-months after the Start Date selected.
- What is the purpose of these accounts?
- Once the fields in the form are filled out and the completed template file has been uploaded, click the "Submit" button.
Please allow 3-5 business days for these requests to be completed. You will be notified when the Canvas User sponsored identities have been created.
Bulk Requests: Communication & Activation
The Education Technology team at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning processes Canvas User sponsored identity requests but does not email sponsored identity users about account creation or activation. Instead:
- We notify the Requester about the creation status of the Canvas User(s) they requested.
- We provide the Requester with the Canvas Users' NetIDs and Activation Pins as a CSV file.
It is the Requester's responsibility to inform each user of their NetID and unique Pin, enabling them to activate their Canvas User sponsored identity for access to Canvas @ Yale.
Once the Canvas User has their NetID and Pin, the Requester should direct them to our Activating a Canvas User Sponsored Identity support article for detailed activation instructions.
Adding a Canvas User Sponsored Identity to a Canvas Course
Once the Canvas User sponsored identity is created, you can add them to any Canvas course site by going to the course and using the "People" tool. Please reference our support article on Adding / Removing Users in Your Course.
For more help, please contact [email protected].