[ARCHIVED] Remove "Export Course" from Settings

[kevinw]

My institution has a need to remove the "export course" option from TA profiles. Any ideas on how to do this? I'm not seeing an obvious permission. 

[kona]

 @kevinw , from previous experience I don't believe there is a specific setting for that. I'm pretty sure it could only be done on the back end of Canvas. I'm going to share this with the https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/canvas-developers?sr=search&searchId=42e2f6b7-6591-4cbe-876a-...‌ to see if they can help!

[kevinw]

Thank you Kona. This is definitely a priority.

[dgrobani]

You might try adding something like this to your custom JavaScript:

if (document.URL.endsWith('settings') && ENV.current_user_roles.indexOf('ta') > -1) {
    $('.icon-download').parent().remove();
}‍‍‍

[kevinw]

How do I add custom Java script 😕 ?

[dgrobani]

Check out this Canvas Guide: How do I upload custom JavaScript and CSS files to an account or sub-account?

[kevinw]

Ah I see. And should this script do it? I'm not too familiar with coding.

[dgrobani]

I'd think twice about using custom JavaScript if you don't understand what it does. Custom JavaScript is loaded on every page that every user loads, and if there's a mistake, it can make your Canvas instance unstable or even inaccessible (which I unfortunately can attest to!). You'll want to test any custom JavaScript in your test environment first before putting it in your live environment.

[kevinw]

I understand your concern and the options. Of course we will test in the

beta environment first. But we don't have any other option it seems.

Our material is susceptible to a quick and easy copyright infringement as

long as TAs have the option to export the course.

Is there some kind of cheat sheet I can use that will show me some of the

"lingo" for canvas in java? Are there any canvas resources?

If I have to learn java then that's just that. I've got a math degree and

some experience in Python and a serious caffeine addiction so I'm sure I

can pick it up.

[James]

 @kevinw ,

I started to respond here but it go so long that I wrote it in a blog post so other people could find it easier. It looks at the code that dgrobani‌ wrote, which doesn't actually work for us. But that highlights his point of making sure that you understand what's going on so you can update it when things change in Canvas.

The first thing to understand is that Java and JavaScript are different and while Java requires a caffeine addiction, JavaScript does not, but the math degree will probably come in handy and the fact that you can already program in Python will definitely help.  I teach math (can't program in Python, though) and it's not necessary to learn how to program in JavaScript as much as understanding what's going on behind the scenes and then taking just a few commands you find in an example somewhere and tweaking them to work for you.

Hopefully, that's what the blog post will do for you: Hiding Content from Certain Roles 

It also mentions that this is a patch, not a fix. Hiding the button will not keep them from accomplishing the task in other ways. 

[laurakgibbs]

Just to follow up on what  @James ‌ said ("Hiding the button will not keep them from accomplishing the task in other ways"), is there a reason why you are trying to use technology to stop people from doing this, instead of just explaining to them why they cannot abuse the copyright...?

As James notes, if you remove the button, people can still find ways to download any content that they are viewing on the screen (everything online is just a screenshot away from being downloaded...), and if these people are your TAs, people whom you have put in a position of trust, then surely you can explain to them that one of the things you trust they will do is to respect copyright, and to contact you if they have a real reason for needing to download copyright materials in order to find a workable solution...?

Admittedly, sometimes even faculty are not clear about copyright, fair use, etc., and the same would be true of TAs, but that seems to me to make it a teachable moment, rather than trying to police it with technology.

[kevinw]

Well, 

We are a non-profit organization and now we have a course offering in public schools. Schools buy a yearly license to this material. For 8 years before this we have provided our services to the community, or taught it using workbooks in charter schools. 

In our experience school districts don't care about copyright infringement. We've had school districts tell us to our face that they were using our material without paying for it, without even batting an eye. Perhaps to large, established publishers this doesn't matter too much. But to a non-profit organization it can be fatal. 

So yes, we understand that ultimately, there is no way to prohibit copyright infringement, except a contract and a lawsuit. But we certainly don't want to make it easy. 

[laurakgibbs]

Got it! That's exactly what I meant about education: policing will not actually expand people's knowledge about what is and is not acceptable use. I hope you can find some good ways to work on the education side of that endless problem, as well as technology policing (which only works up to a point anyway...). The real solution IMO is in education, which is — as all teachers know — very hard work indeed. 🙂

[DDFletch]

Well, it sure makes it harder than the simple press of a button.  I mean, I have a bunch of stuff in my house I rather like.  I trust my neighbors, but I still lock my house every time I leave so as to keep the honest people honest.  Users may even take the "export" button as an excuse.  "Oh, well if you didn't want people copying your courses, why was there an export button at all?"

If you employed Canvas at a school or even a district then I can see how it wouldn't matter as much, but we host hundreds of different schools with a vast array of proprietary IP, and to just say you should remind everyone to respect the copyright, is like leaving your door wide open with a sign in your lawn saying, "Take My Stuff."

A simple solution would be to make a check box in the settings to turn off exporting.  Done!  Fixed.  Next.

[Robbie_Grant]

 @kevinw ,

We are giving the Canvas Admins area a little bit of love (especially questions that are really, really old) and just want to check in with you.  This will also bring this question new attention. 

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie

[EllieKilpatrick]

Hey Robbie, I did some searching found that the initial list posted by a member was broken but those searching this article might find this one useful: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=fa...