Setting up Roles and Permissions BEFORE a course goes live

[RyanFino]

Pretty sure this is possible, but would like some confirmation on something. Documentation and/or screenshots would be best but I understand this is a niche/specific question that might not have official documentation. 

Let's say I have a Canvas instance. I am the admin at the enterprise level, top level, king of the castle. I want to create and/or modify some course-level and account-level roles BEFORE a course shell is made/deployed to students and faculty. is that possible? As in, before a faculty member has access to a course, before students get added, before the course even gets made, I can edit the Student, Teacher, TA, etc. roles to my liking and then also create a new one called Librarian or something and customize those permissions as well. 

In simple terms, can account-level and course-level roles be modified at the top level and NOT just within an existing course?

Again, pretty sure this is possible but as definitive of proof as possible is needed.

Thanks so much!

Ryan Fino

[melodyc_lam · Accepted solution]

@RyanFino Welcome! Not sure if this information helps, but permission editing for both account level and course level roles actually happens at the account level, not the course level. In other words, course-level roles in Canvas aren't specific to a course in Canvas. In addition, even if someone already is assigned a particular role in a course, you can still edit the permissions and have those new permissions apply moving forward.

As an example, if I want the TA role to be able to publish a course moving forward, I can give them that permission, and they will be able to publish any course (courses created before the permission was given and any new courses moving forward).

Hope this helps answer your question!