how to change a user role at the account level

[ShellaSeckel]

When I edit users I do not have a place to change their role.  Where can I do that?  If I want to change a former student to a teacher or change someone from a dean to a teacher where can I do that?  All the documentation says I can go to Admin, People, search for the user and edit their role but I do not have that option.

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

@ShellaSeckel ,

Apologies, I missed your screenshot earlier. You would have to open that course (you can access the course by going to the courses list at the account level, or search the person and scroll through their enrollments), go to People and change the role inside of the course. This is something that cannot be done under Admin specifically.

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-edit-user-roles-in-a-course/ta-p/748

I hope this helps, apologies!
Noah

[NoahBoswell]

Hi @ShellaSeckel ,

Thank you for asking on the Instructure Community!

If you do not have the option to edit a users role, it’s probably because the account-role you have does not have that permission unlocked. If this is something that you need access to, I recommend reaching out to the head Canvas admin of your school for assistance with changing their role, or giving you access to edit their role.

Hope this helps!

Noah

[ShellaSeckel]

Unfortunately I am the head Canvas person and I have the account admin role and it still seems like I can't edit people's roles in my own organization.

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

@ShellaSeckel ,

Apologies, I missed your screenshot earlier. You would have to open that course (you can access the course by going to the courses list at the account level, or search the person and scroll through their enrollments), go to People and change the role inside of the course. This is something that cannot be done under Admin specifically.

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-edit-user-roles-in-a-course/ta-p/748

I hope this helps, apologies!
Noah

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Just to expand on this for you @ShellaSeckel, in Canvas (and really most LMSes that I know), roles are actually tied to an enrollment, not a user themselves.  Someone can be a teacher in one course, a student in another course, and a TA in a third course, all utilizing with the same user account.

Canvas does have account-level roles, which are usually referred to as admin roles.  Those roles apple to all courses in a specific account, but they generally aren't used for something like a teacher.  You probably have an admin role in your root Canvas account if you're the main administrator for your school/institution...

I hope this extra info may help.

-Chris