Inviting Students to a Course in the Continuing Education Environment

In an effort to prevent any potential security vulnerabilities, the Universities of Wisconsin (not Madison) is discontinuing the use of the self-registration feature. This feature gave anyone with a computer the ability to create an account in our Continuing Education Environment. Beginning in May 2026, any new Continuing Education students must be invited to join a course via email.
  1. Navigate to the course in which you would like to add users.
  2. Click the People tab from the navigation menu.
    upper left corner of the screen with an arrow pointing at people on the course navigation

  3. Click the +People button in the upper right corner of the window.
    top half of the People screen, with an arrow pointing at the +People button in the upper right portion of the screen.

  4. The Add people pop-up will appear. Complete the fields as desired, then click NEXT.
    1. Add Users by: Make sure email address is selected.
    2. Email Addresses: Add the email address of the individual (or a list of email addresses separated by commas).
    3. Role: Use the drop-down to select the role the user(s) should have in the course
    4. Section: If sections are being utilized, select the appropriate section.
      Add People Pop up window that includes various fields
  5. A new Add People pop-up will appear that lists the email addresses of the new users. Click the select-all checkbox to indicate you would like to add all as new users. If desired add names to the appropriate field. (Users will have the opportunity to update their names once their account is created.  It is ok to leave the name field blank.) Click Next.
    (Note: Any users that have an email already included in the Canvas system, will NOT be listed in this window, but will be added to the course.) 
    Pop-up with list of new user account email addresses

  6. The pop-up will update to list names (if entered) and email addresses of all new users. Click the Add Users button.
    List of names (if entered) and email addresses

  7. Invitation emails will immediately be sent to the individuals. If individuals do not receive the invitation email, it may be for the following reasons.
    • Email address is entered incorrectly
    • The message was delivered to the users Spam/Other inbox
    • Invitations were filtered out by an organization's IT dept. This occasionally happens when users have an email associated with their place of employment.
  8. If desired, share Creating a Canvas Account via Course Invitation with your students.


Keywords:
Continuing Education, Invite, Invitation, Adding students
Doc ID:
161520
Owned by:
Sarah B. in UWSA DLE
Created:
2026-05-22
Updated:
2026-06-12
Sites:
UW Stout, UW System Administration DLE