[ARCHIVED] Canvas Terms of Service (Use) acceptance

[ahess4]

I would like to know how other institutions are handling the Canvas terms of service (TOS) agreement requirement for newly created accounts in order to use an institutionally licensed instance of Canvas (not the free version). It seems, by default, new user accounts are required to accept a TOS before they can use Canvas:

This can be overridden via an API call for the user account:

POST /v1/accounts/{account_id}/users -

user[terms_of_use] = true

"Whether the user accepts the terms of use. Required if this is a self-registration and this canvas instance requires users to accept the terms (on by default). If this is true, it will mark the user as having accepted the terms of use."

I suppose the question is: Do you require your users to accept the TOS from Canvas or do you set the user[terms_of_use] = true on account creation?

[garth]

ahess4​ it has been a while since I tested this, but I believe the SIS Import process automatically bypasses T&C for new users.

[kona]

Yep, I would second that. Anyone automatically created in our system doesn't have that come up when they first go to access Canvas.

[ahess4]

 @garth ​  @kona ​ Our instance is prompting TOS for users created via SIS imports, as well as GUI created. Seems like there is some difference between our instances.

[kona]

Strange... unless something has changed since we tested this and none of our students/faculty who are new have mentioned it to us.

[garth]

This was definitely a topic of discussion in the planning phases of our launch, the fact that the T&C were missing for SIS imported students.

I'll try to re-test and get back to you as soon as I can.

[garth]

ahess4   HA!!  You are correct sir.

I just imported a test user, logged in as the test user for the first time, and I was presented with the T&C acknowledgement.

Thanks for pointing this out.

So to answer your original question, our students are accepting these T&C's.

We have not written any logic to override this.

** shaking head **  I could have sworn I tested this during our launch, sorry for any confusion.

[ahess4]

 @garth  Thanks for testing. I believe this is a change in Canvas, as we did not recall seeing this for accounts created via SIS feeds in the past either. You may not be losing your mind on the testing part...

Also, per the API notes in the live API for users, (POST /v1/accounts/{account_id}/users - 'force_validation'):

"When set to false, or not included in the request parameters, any newly created users are subject to validations unless the request is made by a user with a 'manage_user_logins' right. In which case, certain validations such as 'require_acceptance_of_terms' and 'require_presence_of_name' are not enforced."

That reads to me as when an admin with the correct rights creates a user, the acceptance of terms is not required by the created user. The force_validation option allows an admin to override and require acceptance of terms. I know this is for API calls and not SIS integration, but few things on that:

1 - Doesn't work anyway with API calls, I tested. If I create a user via API call (I have full admin perms), setting force_validation = false or not including it, the created user is still prompted for acceptance of TOS. This, along with the initial SIS testing we did that didn't appear to require new users to accept TOS, I think something has changed.

2 - I can not find any corresponding SIS field. Since the default in the API is to not enforce TOS w/ admin create, I would assume it should be the same in SIS, if there is no field to set.

3- The logic makes sense: If an account is created by an institution, it falls under the existing TOS between Instructure and the institution, negating the need for a user TOS. However, if a user creates an account themselves (self-registration, etc.), the need for a user TOS exists. That is how the API docs imply the logic. Too bad it does not work as described.

[Robbie_Grant]

ahess4,

We are giving the Canvas Admins area a little bit of love (especially questions that are really, really old) and just want to check in with you.  This will also bring this question new attention. 

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie