Ordering the items in the course navigation list

[GRE6]

Hi. My question concerns the items that are in the navigation list and viewable by the instructor but not by the students. It appears that the items that are native to Canvas can be re-ordered, and so some items---e.g., People or Quizzes---can be kept on hand for instructors even when students can't see or access those links. The same doesn't appear to be the case for items that are not native to Canvas, though (e.g., Honorlock or Google Drive). Am I missing something, or is there some workaround for this? I'd like to be able to access Honorlock from the navigation list, but it's a link that my students don't need.

thanks!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there, @GRE6 ...

You can always arrange your course navigation buttons by following the direction in this Guide: How do I manage Course Navigation links? - Canvas Community.  This would apply to the navigation buttons that come "out of the box" with Canvas and also any other third-party integrations that have been added by you or your school's local Canvas administrator (such as "Google Drive" or "Honorlock").  Now, there's one kind of interesting thing about some of the third-party integrations and their associated course navigation buttons...and it's not always apparent.  Some of those buttons, by design, are made to only show to instructors and Canvas administrators...even if the button has been enabled by you via your course "Settings".  Each third-party integration may or may not have course navigation buttons...and the developer of that integration would decide if the button is visible by students or not.  So, for example, you could enable the "Honorlock" button in you course, then view the course via "Student View" to see if that button shows up in the course navigation or not.

I hope this will be of some help to you.  Sing out if you have any other questions about this...thanks!  Take care...

[GRE6]

Ok, thanks. If you're right, then my problem is that the links for third-party apps aren't behaving as they should in that part of the navigation list. I've attached a screenshot. (And yes, this is after saving the navigation list in Settings and refreshing the page.)

For the part of the navigation list that I can see and my students can't (on the far left), my expectation is that People should be followed by Honorlock and Google Drive. In fact, there are no third-party apps in that part of the list. After Outcomes is Collaboration, and that's it.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there, @GRE6 ...

Thank you for the helpful screenshots of your course navigation buttons.  I, too, experience similar behavior with third-party LTI apps that I have installed in my course.  This is my theory... the course navigation buttons that you see with the crossed-out eye icon are the native buttons that come "out of of the box" with Canvas.  I would actually argue that the third-party buttons like your "Honorlock" and "Google Drive" buttons do not have the crossed-out eye icon (and are not even visible in the course navigation when disabled) because they are, in fact, third-party applications.  My assumption is that Instructure only shows the crossed-out eye icon for those course navigation buttons that are native to the platform...and anything beyond that behaves a bit differently.  This behavior is actually confirmed within the blue box at the top of this Guide: How do I manage Course Navigation links?.  (Refer to the second bullet point under Notes.)

I hope this helps a bit.  Take care...

[James]

Most people would not want it to show external tools that are not enabled for the course with a crossed-out eye icon. You do not have access to them unless they are in the top part of the navigation, so putting them there is problematic. We have a lot of global tools installed at the account level that are not appropriate or used in my course and they would just get in the way.

On the other hand, you still have access to Canvas built-in navigation. What you are controlling access to by moving them to the bottom is the student visibility and the eye indicates that students cannot see them.

If you want an external tool to be visible to faculty only and not students (like Dropout Detective is for us), this is controlled through the settings for the external tool, often through an XML file that you use to create the tool. This can also be configured in the API, where there is a course_navigation[visibility] option that can be admins (including instructors) or members (everyone who has access to the course).

[GRE6]

Ok, thanks, chofer and James. In my case, I want to have access to Honorlock but not have that link showing up in the students' navigation list (for, basically, the same reason that I hide the Quizzes and Assignments links from them, but use them myself). I don't have control over the settings for external tools, but I'll ask my IT department about that.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello @GRE6 ...

Thanks for the reply.  I've never used Honorlock myself, so just out of curiosity...  if you were to enable the "Honorlock" course navigation button in your course, if you then go to "Student View", does that button show up for students?  How do I view a course as a test student using Stu... - Canvas Community  Or, is it still hidden to them...even though you enabled it on your end?

[James]

Good point, Chris.

I believe that Honorlock is like Proctorio (which we use) and requires a Chrome extension on the student's part. I haven't used it myself, but I believe that the student doesn't see the Proctorio in the menu (course navigation visibility is set to admins). For the student, the browser extension kicks in when they go to take the exam.

Looking at the student view is likely to reveal that Honorlock isn't there and that nothing needs done.

[GRE6]

Sure, students can see it when it is in their navigation panel. (The screenshot below is in the student view.) It requires a Chrome extension to use, but if they have that, and if I leave it as is show in the image, then they can access Honorlock-protected tests by that Honorlock link or by going to the module where the test is.

[James · Accepted solution]

@GRE6 

In that case, you should reach out to your local Canvas admin. It really looks like it was added with the course_navigation[visibility]=members instead of admins.

[GRE6]

Ok, thanks. I'm going to try to try that.