The Canvas team often fields questions about how to store sensitive files in a Canvas course. Maybe you have an answer key that you will share with students once they complete an assessment but you don't want that answer key to circulate among all students in the course. Canvas is not an ideal platform for hosting sensitive files. By default, course files are visible and accessible to all users, so placing restrictions on files plays against Canvas's nature. Combine that with a feature that is often misunderstood (Only Available with Link), and you can easily expose files to students unintentionally. Below are gotchas around restricting files and folders to students in Canvas and recommendations for regulating access to sensitive files. Only Available with Link You can place a restriction on a file so that it is only available to students who have the link. This only works in a very narrow context: the actual Files tab in your Canvas course. There, students will not be able t...

In November 2023, Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS) conducted focus group sessions with University of Minnesota (UMN) undergraduate and graduate students. The goals of the sessions were to: understand students’ level of awareness about Generative AI,  understand how students perceive the acceptable use of Generative AI for their academic courses, and learn how, if at all, students would like to be involved with shaping how Generative AI is used in education and shaping policies. Process In partnership with the Office of Information Technology (OIT) Usability Services team, ATSS team members: established the project goals determined recruiting criteria for participants and  defined discussion points to drive the conversations.  During the focus group sessions, the project team served as observers and documented their observations. After all sessions had been completed the team reviewed the issues and analyzed them to determine how they might inform strategies, p...