How does a parent get access to their student's Canvas courses?

Canvas is the learning management system used in Westtown Middle School and Upper School. Each academic course has its own Canvas page, and teachers use the course page to organize course material, assign work, and manage their gradebook. Students use Canvas to access course materials, submit assignments, and review assignment grades and comments. By setting yourself up as an "observer" of your student in Canvas, you will have access to information about your student's assignments and grades. If you'd like to learn more about navigating the Canvas website as an observer, you can watch this tutorial video.

STEP 1: GET A PAIRING CODE FROM THE STUDENT

The first step in the process is to get a pairing code from your student. Instructions for generating a pairing code can be found here. Each pairing code can only be used by one parent, so the student must repeat the process for each parent who needs access. If unused, a pairing code will expire after seven days. If you are unable to get a pairing code from your student for any reason, please send an email to helpdesk@westtown.edu, and someone from our Technology Office will assist you.

STEP 2: USE THE PAIRING CODE TO LINK YOUR ACCOUNT TO THE STUDENT

OPTION #1 - for parents without an existing Canvas account

If this is your first year as a Westtown Middle or Upper School parent, you probably do not have a Canvas account already. Please follow the steps in this section to create your Canvas account and link to your student using the pairing code. If you think you already have a Canvas account (or if you tried following these instructions and were told that an account already exists), please skip down to the "Link to your student through an existing Canvas account" section. You should also refer to those instructions if you have already created an account, paired your account with one student, and would like to link your account to an additional student.

  1. Get the pairing code from your student. If you do not have the code, you will not be able to proceed with registering for a Canvas account.
  2. Go to the Westtown Canvas site - https://westtown.instructure.com. You may want to bookmark this site for future access.
  3. Click on the "Parent of a Canvas User?" link at the top of the page:
  4. Fill out all the fields in the "Parent Signup" window (enter your first and last name in the "Your Name" field), click the checkbox agreeing to the terms of use, and click the blue "Start Participating" button. If you see an error that says "Already in use", you have an existing Canvas account. Please follow the steps in the next section to retrieve your username, reset your password, and link your student through your existing account.

OPTION #2 - for parents with an existing Canvas account

If you already have an existing Canvas account, follow the steps below to link your account to your student.

  1. Get the pairing code from your student. If you do not have the code, you will not be able to proceed with registering for a Canvas account.
  2. Go to the Westtown Canvas site - https://westtown.instructure.com. You may want to bookmark this site for future access.
  3. Enter your email/username and password then click the "Log In" button. If you do not know what your Canvas login is, click the "Forgot Password?" link. You will receive an email address with your username and a link to reset your password.
  4. Once logged in, click on "Help" in the navigation bar on the left side of the page.
  5. Click "Add Student to Observe" from the Help sub-menu.
  6. Enter the student pairing code, then click the blue "+Student" button.
  7. You will see a message that pops up briefly to confirm that the student has been added, and you will see their name listed under "Students Being Observed".