ARCHIVED: As an instructor, how can I resolve LMS Sync problems in Top Hat?

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LMS Sync, the Top Hat feature that synchronizes course rosters and grades with Canvas, relies on the email address to associate users in Top Hat with users in Canvas. If students' email addresses in Top Hat do not match their default email addresses in Canvas, Top Hat will not send their grades to the Canvas Gradebook.

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Potential causes of an email mismatch

Mismatches between the Top Hat and Canvas email address can occur when:

  • Students go directly to tophat.com to create their Top Hat accounts instead of creating their accounts through Canvas.
  • Students change their email address in their Top Hat profile to something other than the default address in Canvas.
  • Students change their IU email preferences, resulting in a change in the default email address in Canvas.

Identifying an email mismatch in Top Hat

To identify an email mismatch in Top Hat:

  1. Log into Top Hat and navigate to your course.
  2. Click Students to navigate to the course roster.
  3. The "Matches Roster" column on the Enrolled Students page contains two possible values: "Email" and "No". Click the column label twice to sort the column in descending order. This will move students with "No" in this column to the top of the page. These students have a conflict between their Top Hat email address and their default email address in Canvas. This conflict must be resolved in order to send their Top Hat grades to the Canvas gradebook.

Correcting an email mismatch in Top Hat

Instructors cannot fix email mismatches in Top Hat directly. You can either ask the student to correct the address in Top Hat, or contact Top Hat to ask them to make the change:

  • Student corrects the address: If you ask students to make this change, refer them to Add or update your phone number in Top Hat.
  • Top Hat corrects the address: For each student with a conflict, record the student's name and the email address listed in the Top Hat "Enrolled Students" page. Then log into the course in Canvas, and open the IU Photo Roster. For each student with a conflict, record the email address listed in the IU Photo Roster. This is their default Canvas email address.

    Once you have compiled the list of email conflicts, send an email request to indiana@tophat.com requesting an update of the address(es). For your convenience, a sample message follows:

    The following students have an email address in Top Hat that conflicts with their Canvas address, which is preventing their grades from being sent to the Canvas Gradebook. Please update these Top Hat accounts to use the Canvas address.

    Campus: (your campus)
    Course Join Code: (join code for your course in Top Hat)

    Student name Top Hat email address Canvas email address
    John Smith jsmith42@iupui.edu jsmith42@iu.edu

    Thank you for your attention to this matter.

This is document aosp in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-08-13 14:52:10.