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Students who register for a course waitlist are now admitted to Canvas courses as Observers during the add/drop period. This is the view-only “Observing: nobody” role you’ll see in your course People list. This allows waitlisted students the opportunity to view course content, but not interact or otherwise engage in Canvas course activities. If a space opens up and they become registered, they’ll gain full access to the course and be assigned the normal Student role. Waitlisted students who don’t get a spot in the course by the end of week one will be automatically removed from the course.

Note: a current Canvas bug is that students who drop a course and become Inactive are not always removed from Canvas Groups that were created when they were enrolled. If you’re using student Groups in Canvas, check your group enrollment at the end of the add/drop period. Go to the People area and select the Groups tab(s), then open each group. If you see inactive students, drag their name out of the group, to the left-side “unassigned” area. You can then re-balance group enrollment, if necessary, by dragging name tiles between groups.

This article was last updated on Feb 20, 2023 @ 11:47 am.