For Fall of 2021 courses, Canvas @ Yale will be re-naming the Shopper role to the Visitor role to align with changes in the Yale College registration process. For full details about the updated registration process, you can visit the Registration website.
Table of Contents
This article will address the following information:
Why are we changing?
In an effort spearheaded by the Yale University Registrar’s Office and the Yale College Deans Office, the process for students to register for courses will change for Fall 2021. Changes to the process with include:
- An accelerated Early Registration period that begins in May 2021 for returning Yale College students.
- Registration worksheets split into two (2) distinct worksheets for Yale College students
- Registration worksheet - used by students to officially register for courses (users will be added to the Canvas courses on this worksheet with the role of Student).
- Canvas worksheet - use by students to select courses they would like to visit, but are not sure if they will officially registering for (users will be added to the Canvas courses on this worksheet with the role of Visitor).
To align with the new multiple worksheet registration process, the role of Shopper will be rebranded and converted to Visitor.
The new multiple worksheet registration process will be rolled out to other schools at a later date. For more information about the registration process, please visit the Registration website.
How will the visitor role be different from the shopper role?
The Visitor role will function exactly the same as the Shopper role - there will be no functional difference from the perspective of the students and their access to materials on Canvas or of course instructors. A user with the Visitor role will be able to fully access all Canvas course materials and participate in all Canvas course activities.
Instructors
Past Behavior
During the course selection period, Instructors saw all Yale College Students listed in the course site’s People Tool with the Shopper role. The students’ roles changed from Shopper to Student once the student finalized/sealed their worksheet.
New Behavior
During the course selection process, Instructors will see Yale College Students listed in their course site’s People Tool with a role based on which worksheet they have added the course to:
- Student Role - Students who are officially registered for the course
- Visitor Role - Students who are not officially registered for the course but are interested in visiting class to see if they might want to register
The new registration worksheets and role distinction will help instructors better understand who is taking their course and who is just visiting and will allow for a more speedy removal of the unregistered students at the end of course selection.
Students
Past Behavior
During Course Selection…
A student added both courses they want to register for and courses they want to visit to their primary worksheet in Yale Course Search. The student was enrolled in all of those courses with the role of Shopper.
Once the student finalized/sealed their worksheet, in the courses that they registered for their role updated from Shopper to Student; in courses they dropped, their Shopper role was removed.
After Course Selection…
For up to 2 weeks after add/drop ends, extraneous Shopper enrollments were maintained until paper registrations were fully processed and officially registered users converted from the Shopper role to the Student role. Any remaining Shopper enrollments were purged once all registrations were manually processed.
New Behavior
During Course Selection….
A student will add courses they want to register for to their Registration Worksheet. The student will be enrolled in these courses with the role of Student.
A student will add courses they are interested in visiting to their Canvas Worksheet. The student will be enrolled in these courses with the role of Visitor. (Students can add/remove courses from their Canvas Worksheet to add/remove themselves from a course.)
NOTE: Students will no longer need to finalize/seal their worksheets this will be automatically done at the end of the add/drop period.
After Course Selection…
After the last day of add/drop, students’ registration worksheet is automatically finalized/sealed.
All Visitor enrollments will be immediately purged the day after add/drop ends.