Course Enrollments
There are two ways that Canvas users are enrolled into a course: 1) automatically by PowerSchool or 2) manually by the teacher. Being enrolled in a course gives users the ability to participate in the course (e.g. take a quiz, submit an assignment, or post discussions.)
Enrollment Basics
- Users have a course role that provide specific rights. Those rights determine how that user can participate in the course.
- Students can only access a course after it is published and the start date has passed.
- Students should never be enrolled with a teacher role.
PowerSchool Enrollments
- Only PowerSchool courses will have automatic enrollments.
- Lead Teachers and student enrollments in PowerSchool are updated nightly to Canvas course enrollments.
- Co-teacher and other roles in PowerSchool will not sync and must be added manually to a Canvas course by the lead-teacher.
- Teachers cannot delete PowerSchool created enrollments.
Manual Enrollments
All manual enrollments are managed by the teacher of the course from the Users page. Manual enrollment directions can be found at https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2878.

Manual Faculty/Staff Enrollments
- Select Email Address.
- Enter the full WCPSS e-mail.
- Users will receive an invitation to join the course which can be accepted from their Canvas Dashboard.
Manual Student Enrollments
- Select Login ID.
- Enter the student number.
- Users will receive an invitation to join the course which can be accepted from their Canvas Dashboard.
Self Enrollments
In manual courses, the teachers can allow users to enroll with a secret URL.
District Courses for WCPSS Employees
Several Canvas courses are available for any WCPSS employee to participate in. Employees can self-enroll in these courses from the Canvas Help menu. Students cannot enroll in these courses. Follow these steps to self-enroll:
- Log into Canvas at http://wcpss.instructure.com.
- Click Help on the global navigation bar.
- Click District Courses for WCPSS Employees.
- Search for courses and click the + Join this course button.