Increase Instructor Control for Student Groups

[rosalesk1]

Most settings created at Course Level disappear at the Group Level for students, and instructors are unable to edit what the Group Level looks like or how it works.

For example, a Discussion is created at course level but is labeled a "Group Discussion." 

• Allow threaded replies is checked so that the discussion can happen as a reply thread to the instructor post (it is contained in one place for grading purposes)
• Create discussion topics is disabled at the course level to ensure students respond to the discussion within their respective group discussion
• Users must post before seeing replies is checked for the discussion so that students post original responses before seeing their group mates' responses

However, the last two bullet points are not fully maintained at the student group level.

• Create Discussion: Students can mistakenly create a new discussion for their reply rather than actually reply.  This leaves out their work in the SpeedGrader and causes confusion.  The instructor should have the ability to disable this functionality at the group level as well
• Must Post Before Seeing: While technically this is maintained, if students have to reply by adding an image or pdf, these are saved to the Files within the Group Navigation Bar.  A student can go to the Files within their Group Navigation and view the other student responses before posting their own.  Disabling Files at the course level does not disable Files at the group level.  Instructors should be able to adjust what is visible within the Group Navigation Bar in the same way they can adjust the Navigation Bar within the course.

Overall, any functionality that the instructor can control at the Course Level, the instructor should be able to control at the Group Level. 

[Stef_retired]

@rosalesk1 

Thanks for sharing these suggestions. As the idea combines several requests, we're not able to move it forward for broader conversation. Would you please re-submit each one as new to encourage separate focused discussions? How do I create a new idea conversation in the Canvas Community? provides guidance on writing focused ideas after searching the Idea Conversations forum for existing conversations to join (you'll find several associated with your general statement at the bottom).

Thanks again!