Request a New Canvas Site

All Canvas sites are created upon request by faculty teaching courses at the University of Pennsylvania or by their TAs or support staff.

It is recommended that Canvas sites be requested two months before the start of the semester, but sites can be requested at any time near the start of the semester or during the semester.

The request process differs depending on your home school and course role. Be sure to select the appropriate option for your school.

Banner Sites

• Annenberg, Arts & Sciences, Biomedical Graduate Studies, Dental, Design, Engineering, Nursing, Social Policy & Practice, and School of Veterinary Medicine:  Please use the Course Request Form or contact Courseware Support. For instructions on how to use the Course Request Form, please see:
  • Requesting Your Canvas Site for a Course (INSTRUCTORS)
  • Requesting a Canvas Site for an Instructor (TAs & STAFF)
• Graduate School of Education: Please use the Canvas Course Creation Form
• Wharton: Please see Requesting a Canvas Site or email courseware@wharton.upenn.edu
• Perelman School of Medicine: Please email canvasmd@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Non-Course/Special Use Sites

To request a non-course/special use site, please email canvas@pobox.upenn.edu

Canvas is an application specifically designed to meet the needs of instructors and students enrolled in courses. That said, Penn Libraries is working with interested staff, researchers, and administrators who wish to use Canvas for non-course purposes that include:

• Collaboration
• Research
  (Note that because of the technical limitations inherent with the platform, storing HIPAA-protected information is not permitted in Canvas.)
• Committees
• Organizations
• Workshops

The Penn Libraries Courseware Services team can create Non-Course/Special Use sites under the following conditions:

• All site participants have PennKeys
• The site owner provides a designated support person as his/her priority contact. (This could be a Courseware Working Group member, or a person we tutor)
• Sites must have an end date of one year or less
• The site purpose fits within an accepted use category: Collaboration, Research, Committee, Organization, Workshop
• Enrollments are managed by a designated Tier 1 support person. S/he must submit a completed spreadsheet with all required information for account creation and participant enrollments.
  • Required information includes: Full name, PennKey username, Penn ID number, and a valid email address (does not have to be a Penn address)
  • Complete information must be provided. Courseware Support staff are not able to look up PennKey usernames or Penn ID numbers for participants in non-course sites. If the site requester does not have access to or cannot obtain all the required information for participants an alternative to Canvas will be recommended.

Copy Site Content

• Canvas-to-Canvas

Last Updated: 18 Jul 2023