Allow Groups to set Homepage

Idea created by Holly Palmersheim on Aug 18, 2015

Comment • 36

Open for Voting

Score261

+255 more

We have more schools using the admin- and course-level groups feature to communicate with staff in the building and differentiate by type of staff, grade level teams, departments and others. It would be extremely beneficial if the group function allowed them to set a custom homepage. If you go to the pages it does allow you to set a homepage but then the group home only shows the recent activity stream.

This idea was considered when developing our product plan for Q4 2019 and is not expected to influence development within Canvas at this time.
This idea will remain open for vote.
If this idea is in the top 10% by vote next cycle it will be reconsidered.

Read more about the feature idea process:
Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes
How does the feature idea process work in the Canvas Community?
What is the feature development process for Canvas?

36 Comments

chofer@morainepark.edu Aug 18, 2015 9:37 AM
Here's the previous Feature Idea that has now been archived due to a lack of needed votes: Allow groups to set a page as the homepage
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Holly Palmersheim Aug 18, 2015 1:41 PM
Thank you Chris. I did see that, I thought that I had to create a new one to open it back for voting. Ideas that were open for voting are difficult for me to promote for voting in the K-12 environment. If this opens back up I feel that I could get the necessary votes.
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scottd@instructure.com Aug 18, 2015 5:11 PM
Adding this submission to the Sept queue now... Thank you for re-submitting Holly Palmersheim
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biray@instructure.com Sep 2, 2015 7:05 AM
This idea is now open for vote.
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Margaret Ricci Sep 30, 2015 2:30 PM
This would really give the group spaces some zing. They are almost awesome but are lacking some functionality that you expect to have because they work in many ways like a normal course site.
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Beth Crook Nov 3, 2015 11:11 AM
As we are leaving our current email program (which has heavy emphasis on Conferences aka Groups), we are looking at replacement solutions. Canvas Groups is one of the solutions and the ability to set a Page as the homepage would be a great feature/enhancement to have! Definitely appears to be more inviting! So here's my vote
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Linda J. Lee Nov 16, 2015 2:43 PM
Many of our faculty use groups in their courses. Sometimes, though, students can have difficulty navigating between the course-level Canvas site and the group-level area. Giving groups the ability to set a home page would help mitigate that confusion.
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- Lisa Brem @ Linda J. Lee on Nov 20, 2015 11:32 AM
  Exactly the problem we had! Students were posting to discussions in their group when they meant to post to the class discussion and vice versa! It's really hard to distinguish between the two home pages especially if you use the activity stream in the course as the home page. If we can't get a custom home page, then at least Canvas should put a different skin on the group home pages ... something that makes it really obvious that you are not in Kansas anymore
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Laura Joseph Nov 24, 2015 3:49 PM
Great idea. We're finding that some of our students (and staff...) are getting lost between course and group level areas, too.
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Emily Frank Dec 7, 2015 12:25 PM
Love this idea! Can't tell you how many times instructors have asked for this. Would be particularly useful also for "special" courses like our Student Resource Center or Faculty Lounge that are using groups but the lack of homepage in the Groups Interface is causing issues and confusion for students and faculty.
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allison@instructure.com Jan 6, 2016 12:26 PM
Laura Joseph, one of the concerns I have about making the groups home page behave exactly like the course home page is that it will further confuse users about whether they are in a Group space or a Course space. If we did enable setting a Group Home Page, what suggestions do you or the group have for making a better distinction between the two?

I'm very open to ideas so keep those coming. Please note, however, that if we did decide to make an improvement to the groups area, it would likely not come under consideration until the second half of this year.
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- Laura Joseph @ allison@instructure.com on Jan 6, 2016 10:24 PM
  Having groups set the homepage would differentiate the group space from the course homepage as the content would be specific to the group (e.g. project or topic based).
  A group home would also enhance navigation through group content (e.g. groups could use the landing page to link to key wiki pages, files or discussions rather than having to go through those menu options or via announcements.)
  A group homepage would also have an important phatic function; emphasising the social aspect of collaborative spaces is generally a good thing to do when you can in fully online courses (this might not be so important for blended courses).
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- Nathan Phillips @ allison@instructure.com on Feb 19, 2016 1:01 PM
  The current group home doesn't look any different from the course default home page, it's just the course stream. I share the concern about groups looking different from courses, allowing for a customized home page would help, you could in big bold letters say something like "Welcome to USER GROUP XYZ."
  
  Similarly, being able to change the navigation by hiding some of the options would be great (if your group doesn't use collaborations or conferences it's confusing to have it there).
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John Buchner Jan 6, 2016 8:50 PM
Why would people be confused? Where you are is on the left hand side of the screen over the tabs (right over home by default), on the recent activity page, and in the breadcrumb trail at the top. I could see people occasionally making a mistake, but not many times over.
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Michael Nieckoski Feb 3, 2016 6:24 AM
I too vote for allowing groups to choose a home page.

I've been confused about where I am (group vs. course) like others in this thread. However, I think of my own home.. I paint different rooms different colors, arrange the furniture differently, etc., so I would know where I was instantly even if I woke up in a room (after a long night!).
I've often thought of differentiating the different spaces in Canvas, and groups vs. courses is a good place to start. Some different screen arrangement, background, or something to set it off from a "standard" course space. Groups might have a zebra background and I'd sure know I was in a group (just kidding, of course, I wouldn't want to hurt any zebras!), but I think you get the idea. BTW, color should not be the only difference for accessibility concerns.

Groups are indeed awesome, and mostly used by students (at my institution), and since we're student-centered, it seems fitting that group members should be able to have teacher privileges inside their group, and have access to a "settings" area like regular course areas have, change the home page, adjust the left navigation, etc. I'd like to see a group as, "A Canvas within a Canvas," and let our groups run with it.

--mike
Michael Nieckoski
Keene State College Canvas Admin
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Rob Ditto Feb 11, 2016 4:05 PM
Allison, I think the most widely supported way to address confusion about whether you're in the course site or a group would be to automatically incorporate a Group visual indicator (42 votes) shown along with the group's choice of home page.
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Peyton Craighill Mar 28, 2016 12:42 PM
[It's a bird...It's a plane...It's...a bearer of bad news.]

Updates to Groups are taking a backseat while we focus on upgrading Rich Content Editor, Modules and Notifications. Since we are unlikely to tackle this idea in 2016, I will archive it now.
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Ladonna Oros Jul 29, 2016 6:27 PM
Is there anyway to open this idea up again? We are using groups as a fun way for students to communicate and "hang" together on Canvas and to facilitate community. Being able to use a customized page as the homepage would be jus the thing to make their landing place attractive enough to be used often!

Thank you,
Ladonna Oros
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- Ladonna Oros @ Ladonna Oros on Jul 29, 2016 6:28 PM
  BTW...How many votes do we need to get for the idea to be used?
  Ld
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  - scottd@instructure.com @ Ladonna Oros on Jul 30, 2016 5:34 PM
    Hi Ladonna Oros,
    
    There isn't a distinct number of votes that will guarantee that a feature is implemented. Any idea that makes if over 100 votes will be formally considered. That means we will do the work to research the idea, determine an estimate of how many hours of engineering time it would take, what other areas of Canvas it will affect, how it fits with the overall goals, etc and then make a response. The more votes something gets, the more we know people want it and we prioritize accordingly. For more info you might want to check out How does the feature idea process work?
    
    Please let us know if you have questions.
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    - Renee Ford @ scottd@instructure.com on Aug 30, 2016 9:18 AM
      I hope it can be considered. This is causing issues with group discussions in some of our courses.
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Lisa Yarnell Sep 24, 2016 12:39 PM
Oh, please don't let this go. We encourage collaboration, and landing on a blank page is unwelcoming and discouraging for students.
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- Renee Ford @ Lisa Yarnell on Oct 10, 2016 11:47 AM
  Not to mention confusing.
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Catherine Crouch Oct 11, 2016 11:45 AM
I'm voting for this enhancement. We have several courses using groups and this feature is often requested by faculty. Plus, it's confusing that you can set a page as the Front page in groups, but it doesn't have any value in the list pages.
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Renee Carney Oct 28, 2016 3:55 PM
Idea is currently in Product Radar Learn more about this stage...
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Jennifer Hambleton-Holguin Mar 22, 2017 3:52 PM
I have a course to promote competitive fellowships on campus, and am using groups to organize application processes/provide resources for individual fellowships. The students are SO confused about where to find resources within group spaces; a homepage for each group space would be amazing!
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- Per Erik Skogh Nilsen @ Jennifer Hambleton-Holguin on Oct 1, 2017 2:12 AM
  I am rather new in this forum and don't know if this has already been mentioned, but there is a workaround which gives you that functionality already.
  
  In Canvas most internal adresseing is done with wiki-pages.
  One such is defined to be the grouphompage. I can't find any means to arbitralily choose this.
  What you can is however to open the Page you want the group to open in and copy its adress.
  You then create a direct link to the group in which you embed that adress.
  This will result in you picking a de facto homepage for the group.
  (The original homepage is still available from Home in the group).
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Kristi O'Neil-Gonzalez Oct 31, 2017 3:33 PM
Being able to set a group homepage for an online grad program we offer would be extremely beneficial. #HigherEdToo
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Karin Bolldén Nov 1, 2017 1:15 AM
We have several teachers and Canvas champions at our university calling for this functionality. As an educational developer I think this feature would support students' abilities to take control of their own online space, which is of importance when studying at university level.
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Nancy LaChance May 2, 2018 9:17 AM
It is now May 2018, and I would really love to see some traction on this idea. Given the need for increased networking skills among students, having a Group Area that can be customized and managed more effectively would be a huge value. We have a large number of groups being used for various reasons, but the limitations of the current Canvas group funcitonality pushes us to use full courses when groups would be much more appropriate. Is there any chance that Groups will move back up the priority ladder for Canvas?
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- Jennifer Hambleton-Holguin @ Nancy LaChance on May 2, 2018 9:22 AM
  I agree! I was just talking about this with my colleagues yesterday. We would really like to be able to better utilize these group spaces, but to do so, we need to be able to customize them with a homepage that lets students know how they can use the space, where they can find resources, etc.
  
  Jen Holguin
  Career and Academic Advisor, Director of Fellowships, Exchanges and Study Abroad
  831.647.6676 I Email<mailto:jhamblet@miis.edu> I Web<http://www.miis.edu/careers> I LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenholguin> I Zócalo<https://miis-csm.symplicity.com/> I Skype<http://www.skype.com/>: jen_holguin
  Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
  Center for Advising and Career Services
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Sally Eberhard Jun 27, 2018 3:26 AM
I was assigned assessment task as a student, having to set up my group space for other students to come in and participate in the activities and discussion we design for the week.
I'd add my voice as a very frustrated student with the group space features.

Currently we have some options within the student group space to create pages, to post announcements, discussions etc.
As we are assigned to a group space and running it as a mini class, as students, as part of our assessment. I am finding the group space really lacking support for my fellow students. I'm the "teacher" for a week, on a specific topic that we select, so each of us gets assigned a group space to add our materials and instructions etc.
I have to provide them with instructions and activities for my research topic, I can do that in Canvas pages fine. But there's no way (other than post an announcement) to tell my classmates, here's the place to look at.

A simple option to allow us to set a homepage, like the teachers can for a real course, would have been really useful!
A module feature would be great, too but I suspect not many would use it?
This is what my group area looks like:

Further to the point, I've noticed that when I peek into my classmate's group space, even though there was a discussion and an announcement created, the activity stream was blank. This made me worry that when others come to my space, they might not see these and think to click on them! Or they go straight to the discussion and lost the context!!

I gave up on Canvas and went to google site to create all the content, but now I feel that I need to add the link to every place I could think of, to ensure my classmates know how to orientate themselves. Not ideal!

A simple ability to set a homepage would have really helped here. They come here, there's a page that tells them what to do, no need to guess where to click! The feature is already available for staff... could it be a quick win?

As a learning technologist, I then realised why our students aren't using Canvas' group spaces, now that I've experienced trying to organise it as a student myself.
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Renee Carney Sep 5, 2018 2:21 PM
The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process. You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities. This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.
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Brittany Mondragon Mar 5, 2019 12:32 PM
Some students are part of several groups, and a home page would help students differentiate between classes and the groups they belong to. Professors could also use this area to elaborate on the groups' specific projects if needed. Currently, group sites are lackluster and maybe a deterrent for students and professors. Several programs are also using the group feature as a way to communicate to students.

Please, consider reopening.
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- Stefanie Sanders @ Brittany Mondragon on Mar 5, 2019 1:32 PM
  Brittany, the idea is already open for voting.
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Izabella Bagdasarova Aug 30, 2019 5:08 PM
Just this morning, the instructor came and told that she assigns each group a different topic, and wants to create Home Page with details and resources for each group. That is when I realized that it is not possible: although I was able setup the page for each group as Front Page, I couldn't find the way to assign it as a group home page. That was really confusing; then I found this blog.
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