[ARCHIVED] Ensuring section anonymity

[jwillin]

We have a course in which it is very important that students not be able to see students in other sections of the course. All students are enrolled with the 'section only' access. As a precaution, I tried to figure out ways that teachers or students could inadvertently reveal themselves to students in other sections. I came up with one scenario in which they could, and wanted to know if anyone is aware of any others?

If a teacher posts an announcement that is assigned to all sections and the option to allow students to reply is enabled, and a student replies, then that student's reply is visible to all students regardless of section. This would also apply to discussions. I advised the instructors to be sure that the 'reply' option is not enabled on 'all section' announcements and that they be intentional in their assigning of discussion boards.

Are you aware of any other scenarios that could compromise section anonymity?

Thank you,

John Willingham 

[jcarpenter1]

Hello,  @jwillin  .  The only other thing I could think of is if the People in the Course Navigation Menu isn't disabled.  There's also if the teachers allow students to do group work on Canvas.

[cmuir]

With "section only" access, would students be able to see all sections in the People listing, or only their own section?

[jcarpenter1]

I believe that it is only for their section.

[ellen_peters]

I have also investigated this for the reason that in some courses students should not be able to see which student is in which section. I have found the following scenario (tested with student role):

1. Go to the Inbox
2. Click compose message
3. Search for the course
4. Click on the address book. This allows you to click further to the sections in the course, and to the students in the sections (even in People is hidden in the course).

[s_j_beale]

Confirming what @ellen_peters has said here; Section enrolments are still visible to all students in the Inbox, irrespective of whether People is visible or not in a given course.

Anonymous section enrolments are something we really need here in the UK for GDPR. Currently, it's simply not up to standard.