[Groups] Allow Groups to set Homepage

[hpalmersheim]

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.

[allison]

 @laura_joseph4 ​, 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.

[jbuchner]

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.

[laura_joseph4]

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).

[mnieckoski]

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

[RobDitto]

Deactivated user​, 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 (42 votes) shown along with the group's choice of home page.

[nphillips]

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).

[peytoncraighill]

[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.

[ladonnaoros]

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

[ladonnaoros]

BTW...How many votes do we need to get for the idea to be used?

Ld

[scottdennis]

Hi ladonnaoros

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 voting process work for feature ideas?​

Please let us know if you have questions.