Parent Observers

I am relatively new to Canvas Admin. Wondering what the best way to add Parent Observers to our classes would be? We roster Aeries to Canvas through OneRoster, does not look like it is an option to include Parent information as part of that API. Would be have to allow Open Registration for Observers, have teachers invite the parents, they reply with thir email etc. to create account? Or would it be better to see if OneRoster can include a parent contact endpoint to Canvas and create parent accounts for us in Canvas.

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oneilllj

Hi @RM_PCOE

The connection and set up for Parent Observers will be dependant on your organisations requirements to ensure privacy and data control. The Observers guides within the community provide quite a lot of information about ways and methods to do this:

Getting started

Observer account creation and pairing

Observer visibility and participation

I have previously worked in an organisation where we set up Parent Observers by providing a link to Canvas, and instructing parents to login using their existing parent portal credentials (provided by the organisation upon enrolment). Parents accounts were created within Canvas, using the standardised email address and name from our main parent database system (through some interfaces and csv reporting). This ensured we were matching communication rules and permissions for student/parent access and was a consistent approach to managing and maintaining access within the Canvas instance. And this also ensured we matched the correct students and parents together.

This process also meant we were not sharing a pairing code or other methods for connection - we essentially added the parents to the account in the observer role, showed them how to access the Canvas link from our portal and they could login as and when required.

The intent of the parent observers was to set up a system for continuous reporting with feedback and grades all provided in Canvas and exported to another system for reporting and analysis.

Hope this helps with your query.

Thanks

Jen

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