What Is Auto-Population?

Auto-population is a custom program that searches in PeopleSoft for people who meet specific criteria and automatically adds those people to a Canvas Den.  For example, there is a Biology Majors Canvas Den for communicating and sharing resources with students majoring in biology.  All students pursuing a BS in Biological Sciences are added to this Canvas Den via auto-population.

Auto-population must be specially programmed, which takes approximately two weeks.  Once the auto-population has been programmed, the program runs every night, searching in PeopleSoft for people who meet the specified criteria (e.g. students majoring in biology) and adding any new people to the Canvas Den with a Den Participant role.

Auto-population can include students, faculty, and/or staff.  Please note that auto-population of very large groups of people (e.g. all students/faculty/staff) is reserved for special circumstances (e.g. mandatory university training).

Is auto-population right for my Canvas Den?

Canvas Den Leaders have access to manage the people in their Canvas Dens manually, including adding and removing people.  In general, this is preferred over auto-population because it gives Canvas Den Leaders full control and flexibility.  However, if there is a constant stream of new people who need access to your Canvas Den promptly, and you are worried about your ability to keep track of who needs to be added to your Canvas Den, then auto-population might be the right solution for you.

Auto-population is not the right solution for you if:

  • You have a Canvas Den for something that people choose to join and leave at any time, such as a learning community.
  • There is nothing in PeopleSoft to identify the people who need to be added to your Canvas Den.  For example, PeopleSoft knows that a faculty member teaches in the Department of Dance, but it does not know that a faculty member is part of Faculty Senate.

What are the pros and cons of auto-population compared to managing people manually?

Comparison of manual population vs. auto-population
Function Manual population Auto-population
Adding people
  • Den Leaders must keep track of who needs access to the Canvas Den.
  • Den Leaders must add people manually.
  • New people who meet the criteria are added to the Canvas Den automatically within 24 hours.
  • Den Leaders can still add people manually.
Removing people
  • Den Leaders have full control to remove anyone at any time.
  • Den Leaders must remove people manually.
  • People can only be removed if they no longer meet the criteria in PeopleSoft.
  • People are not removed automatically. Den Leaders must have a plan for removing people manually or with help from canvas@chapman.edu.
Organizing people
  • Den Leaders have full flexibility to organize the people in their Canvas Den however they want, such as organizing people into different sections in order to post announcements only to specific sections.
  • It is not possible to organize people into different sections in order to post announcements only to specific sections. 
  • It is possible to organize people into Groups Links to an external site..

I think I am interested in auto-population. What's next?

If you think auto-population might be right for your Canvas Den, please schedule a virtual consultation with a team member to discuss your request in detail.  Below are some questions to help you prepare for the consultation.

Auto-population of students

  • Should the auto-population include students with any specific major(s) or minor(s)?  Which one(s)?
  • Should it include students who are enrolled in any specific class(es)?  Which one(s)?

Auto-population of instructors

  • Should the auto-population include instructors who belong to any specific department(s)?  Which one(s)?
  • Should it include any specific instructor types (e.g. full-time, lecturer, administrator)?
  • Should it include instructors who are teaching any specific subject(s) or class(es)?  Which one(s)?

Auto-population of staff

  • Should the auto-population include staff who belong to any specific department(s)?  Which one(s)?
  • Should it include regular staff?  Temporary staff?  Administrators?