[Modules] Module access to specific groups, sections or students

[dharriman]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

---

It would be great if I could give Modules unique gating rules specific to individual students or groups or sections within the course, similar to how I can create unique assignment due dates for different students and sections.

[Renee_Carney]

MasteryPaths official  Production Releas is 2016-11-19​!  This new feature has great potential for this idea!  Let us know what you think!

[tiffany_maglasa]

THIS IS FROM 2 YEARS AGO. Come on Canvas! 

My modules are set to open up each Sunday, which is good for most of the class. But, for one student, who is going to be out for surgery, I would like to give her the ability to work ahead, and I can't figure out how to do that without giving it to everyone?

Canvas Help told me: "module dates are set at the course level and cannot be edited at the student level, the system will not allow to have separate dates for single users. This explains why you are unable to set up these parameters."

and then referred me to this idea post... Come on Canvas! 

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Thank you  @tiffany_maglasa ‌ for replying to my post. Just this morning I had the same situation occur again. A student is going out of the country and wants to be able to access the module that will be made active when she will be absent. I decided to change my design just for that module by adding requirements to the prior module, adding that one as a prereq, and changing the release date. She's a strong student and I don't want to lose her contributions to the class and so I was willing to give her early access, but my changes are now available to *all* students. Luckily it is late in the class so the risk to properly structured learning is low.

Thanks  @Renee_Carney ‌ for mentioning MasteryPaths as a potential solution. That is a bit more functionality than is needed for a situation like this, which is simply giving an individual student differential access to a module. The logic is similar to what we can already do with graded items.

It will be great once this is available in Canvas.

[tiffany_maglasa]

Hi  @ProfessorBeyrer , I also had to change my modules to use "prerequisites" and "requirements" for the entire class, in lieu of the lock dates on my modules, to allow her to work ahead... which then allows everyone to work ahead... Luckily, I may have found a little bit of a workaround that will keep the rest of the class from trying to do a month's worth of work in a week, by only giving her "early access" to the assignments in each module, and then setting the assignments as "requirements" to access the next module.

This workaround is more complex than what it needs to be, and I'm not sure that it will actually work, because if a student doesn't complete their discussion board or quiz for Topic 4, it won't let them move on to Topic 5, per my "requirements"... So, I will probably have to go and manually unlock each module on Sundays for the next several weeks... Since you can't have both prerequisites and an unlock date (i.e., if they don't meet the requirements, unlock the module after xyz date)...  😞  

I agree, the MasteryPaths is a lot more complex than what our situations (*exceptions*) call for. It seems like adding in this functionality for modules should be simple since it is similar to what they already have available for assignments... 

[oas]

There is another use for such a feature which is not student-specific. We have parents enrolled in the class as "observers." It would be nice to be able to create a module for that set, which does not involve mastery paths, prerequisites, etc. Just a module for observers to view.

As I understand how it exists now, this is not really possible to implement in a transparent way with this new feature.

[thompsli]

 @tiffany_maglasa ‌ and  @ProfessorBeyrer ‌:

Here is the work-around I use for this "student needs early access" situation. It is slightly ridiculous, but it sounds like it may be less frustrating than what you're doing now.

I create a Module at the very top of my class called something like "gatekeeper-ignore". It has one no-submission one-point "this assignment does not count toward the final grade" Assignment in it called something like "gatekeeper-ignore". I set the Module Requirements to the "gatekeeper" module to be "score at least 1 on gatekeeper-ignore". (You may want to include an explanation that this is not a real assignment that students need to do in the assignment description for the assignment.)

Leave the gatekeeper-ignore assignment blank in the gradebook for students who you do not want to have work ahead. That way, they will not have completed the requirements for the "gatekeeper" Module. (I've found that blanks bother students less than zeroes.)

Put in a "1" for students you do want to be able to work ahead. They will then have met the module requirements for your gatekeeper Module.

Then, down in your "real" Modules, for any future Module you do not want your general students in yet but you do want your "work ahead" student (or students) in, set a Prerequisite of "gatekeeper-ignore" Module. (You will have to remove this Prerequisite when you are ready for the rest of the class to be in that Module.)

I only do this in terms/classes when it's needed, but it's the fastest "on the fly" solution I've found so far given that Canvas lacks this needed feature. You can get much more complicated with a bunch of different gatekeeper modules and prerequisites for different sets of Modules if you need to for some reason, but it gets pretty hacky pretty quickly and I don't recommend going too far down the rabbit hole with this since it does make the top of your "Modules" page a bit cluttered.

[ProfessorBeyrer]

 @thompsli  Thank You for that creative use of module requirements and prereqs. That is a quick solution that works on the fly, and making a one-point assignment works well for that purpose.

[ethanp]

Hi John

The workaround suggested works if you're talking about students enrolled in one course BUT some of us build a suite of modules that can be linked to various courses (rather than imported/exported).  Another reason you'd want a module assigned as a whole (rather than by item) is the ability to have an entire module due on a day rather than having to make each item within it show up on the course summary.  Think of it as a way to show course summary in "modules" reflecting weeks, topics, or any other way of listing the organization of content other than assignment by assignment (which causes a headache in how you name them, since it lists items within a specific date alphabetically, rather than by topic).  Anyhow, there are many reasons why Modules should stand alone.

[Renee_Carney]

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.

[aileen_mckenna]

I've also just asked for this and been directed here!

We currently have a course running which allows post-graduate clinical pharmacy students to tailor their learning to their current needs. For this, there are 9 total topics (cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, skin disease etc), of which each student picks only three to study. The course is run under the same module name and reference, but it is customisable for individual students, essentially. 

For example, student A might want to learn more about topics 1, 2 and 3 so we allow them to study those and submit assignments related to those areas. 
Student B might be working in a slightly different sector or area and so wants to study topics 3, 7  and 9

Student C might want to study 2, 5 and 6 etc. 

We need the students to only be able to see the material that is relevant to those topics but there is currently no way to do this in Canvas. This course is also distance learning so we would like to get the students studying online as much as possible to use the interactive materials, quizzes etc. As an interim we will probably have to upload pdfs of the course material to the assignment section, which is less than ideal. 

It would be wonderful if, in future, there is a way to allow only certain students to see specific modules within a Canvas course to keep their learning experience consistent throughout the year. I would also be interested to know if anyone has come up with a way around this in their own courses as a potential stop gap!