Canvas@Illinois, Prevent Students from Creating Their Own Groups

This article describes how you can disable the setting that allows students to create their own Canvas groups connected to your course site.

By default, students can create their own groups in Canvas courses (see How do I create a group as a student?). These can be used to independently create study groups, discussions, etc. that are not part of graded course assignments. However, instructors may want to prevent the ability to create groups in some courses. You can do this by either adjusting the course settings or hiding the People tab in the course navigation menu.

Adjust Course Settings

  1. Select Settings in the Course Navigation menu.
  2. Select the Course Details tab.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page to select more options to view additional settings.
  4. Uncheck the Let students organize their own groups option.
  5. Select the Update Course Details button to save changes.

Screenshot of Course Details page with red box around the Let students organize their own groups setting and red arrow pointing to the Update Course Details button

Hide the People Tab

To hide the People tab, you'll need to manage the Course Navigation links to disable People or move People below the "Drag items here to hide them from students" area. Be sure to select Save at the bottom of the page to save your changes!

Screenshot of navigation page with People item disabled