Limit users to only interact with other users in the same course section?

[cvolpe1]

Good afternoon all,

I know this has been asked before but I am looking for a solution that does not involve manually adjusting the permissions of a user in a course.

If I (sys admin) or another instructor cross-lists 2 courses, students in one section should not be able to view students from another section in People or Inbox them (we got the discussion thing handled).  I know this can be done individually via  People  and I see it can be be done in Groups but I do not see a way to do this by section.

Thank you,

Courtney

How do I limit a user to only interact with other users in the same course section? | Canvas Instruc... 

[nwilson7 · Accepted solution]

Hello, I do not believe that this is a current feature of Canvas.  I know I have seen at least one feature request for this https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/11136  and there may be others.  (I know, why can you manually add them and get that option but not cross-list or mass add and get that option).

I can offer a work-around that seems to work pretty well.  Since most areas of Canvas can do the group interactions, like you mentioned, you can get Canvas to auto-create groups based on section.  You just go to the groups and then have it auto-create the same number of groups that you have sections cross-listed (so if two sections are cross-listed, have 2 groups) but then click the checkbox that the students must be in the same section.  This will create groups that match your sections and then you can use those to lock interactions.

Hope this helps!

-Nick

[cvolpe1]

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your response.  We are doing what you suggest for Groups but in this case, we do not want to have groups displayed.  I believe we have just figured a way to do this programmatically.  We will need to do some testing first.  

Best,

Court