Requesting a Canvas site for a Wharton Course

This article will help you request a Canvas course site, review the new site for accuracy, and publish the site.

Before You Start

Wharton instructors may now make Canvas course site requests, as well as requests for Study.Net copyrighted readings and instructional consultations, through Wharton's Courseware Request Form. When filling out the form, if your course is not listed, select "my section is not listed." This is one of several teaching-needs forms and surveys also made available to faculty in Wharton Instruction Center (under the Tech Surveys menu choice).

Please note that as of summer 2023, student teaching assistants cannot currently access our form.

When preparing to submit either a Courseware Request Form or an emailed service request to courseware@wharton.upenn.edu, you'll want to gather the following information:

  1. The course, section number(s) and cohort for any Wharton course (Lauder language course sites are treated as Wharton sites) and if the sections should be in separate Canvas sites or all in a single Canvas site.
  2. If requesting content to be copied over, please provide the full course name, section, semester and URL, when possible. You can find a list of your past and current courses with All Courses.
  3. If the course requires group work.
  4. The PennKey username for any other instructors or TAs who need access (no passwords are needed)
  5. If not using the Courseware Request Form, a syllabus or other guidance about desired features as described in Step 1 below.
  6. See below for guidance on placing non-Course or non-Wharton requests for Canvas.

Guidance for Non-Course and Non-Wharton Canvas Needs

Starting in summer 2023, due to resource limitations, the Wharton Computing IDEA Courseware Team is unavailable to design new non-course Canvas sites, or to consult with staff seeking to establish these. Please also note that the Penn Libraries' non-course/special-use Canvas service offering is not available for Wharton School needs.

  • Staff in academic departments and resource centers may contact acs-support@wharton.upenn.edu to arrange a discussion with an academic Strategic Partner about non-course Canvas needs.
  • All other staff may contact admin-support@wharton.upenn.edu to reach an administrative Strategic Partner from Wharton Computing.

Faculty who teach for other Penn schools may request a course Canvas site through the following teams:

Expect up to 3 business days for a standard Canvas site request to be completed (e.g., a single Penn Canvas site configured for a Wharton course).  For specialized learning tool setup or in-depth feature configuration, we’ll extend best-efforts service; note that some setups will be identified as projects requiring a consultation followed by an agreed-upon project plan.

Step 1: Choose your desired structure and features, or request a consultation

The Courseware Request Form guides you through a series of simple questions intended to help you obtain the functionality you need for each course you teach.  For most faculty using that form will be the easiest way to request Canvas on your own; however, please note that as of summer 2023, student teaching assistants cannot currently access our form.

If you prefer to continue requesting Canvas by email, or to have a staff colleague or TA request on your behalf, here's what to include in that email.  Wharton Computing historically offers a choice of four standard Canvas site types, or configurations: template, starter, advanced and site copy.  In addition to those standard types, specialized Canvas projects for teaching are usually planned by requesting an instructional design consultation.

Step 2: Review your completed site

Please check your site to ensure that...

Step 3: Publish your site

You must publish your Canvas site before students may access it. Only instructors (not TAs or administrators) may publish a site, and the Courseware team will not do so unless asked. 

Questions?

Email: courseware@wharton.upenn.edu