It is now possible for an instructor to add a user as an Observer in a Canvas course.
From the Canvas documentation:
Observers can
- View and read announcements
- View assignments index page
- View the calendar
- Join conferences, if invited
- Join collaborations, if invited
- View personal inbox
- Send conversation messages to instructor and student they are observing*
- View the dashboard
- View and read discussions
- View files unless they are locked
- View grades, view assignment due dates and comments, and print grades*
- View modules and see due dates and point values
- View pages and contribute if the instructor enables the Anyone can edit it setting
- View profile pictures, if available
- View syllabus
- View outcomes
- View quizzes index page
Observers cannot
- Comment on announcements or discussions
- Submit assignments or quizzes
- View course rosters
- Send conversation messages to students in the course they are not observing
- View locked files or folders
- Join groups
- View unpublished courses
- Access the Chat tool
- Reserve appointment slots in the Scheduler
- View grade audit trail
* These capabilities are only available if the Observer is linked with another student account. Linking an Observer must be manually completed. Because we are not doing this the Observer role cannot access grade information.