Prevent students from making other students Observers of their accounts?

[sjones11]

Maybe I'm worrying for nothing but its the first time I've seen this.

I had a student come in today with a question and I noticed that  their Canvas dashboard looked like an Observer's dashboard would. 

There was a dropdown (attached) and the student could select the other student and Observe their Canvas account. 

I was wondering if anyone else has seen this? Has it caused problems at all?  Is there a way in Canvas to prevent students from Observing one another? 

Thanks!

[dbrace]

Hi @sjones11,

A couple of things come to mind as aspects to consider:

1. Has someone else with parent/observer access used their computer (web browser) and not logged out of Canvas?
2. Have you checked the user account's enrollments for any observer enrollments?
3. Have you cleared their web browser data and were you able to duplicate the experience after logging into Canvas again?

-Doug

[sjones11]

Hi Doug. 

I was pressed for time but aside from seeing it on the student's laptop I did also see it while "Acting As" the student so that's at least two places where it was happening.  

I did see that one student had the other student as an Observer.  I don't think its an issue of shared credentials but rather it seemed like the process to link to a student was completed by one of the kids to make the other an Observer. 

When I removed the linked Observer, the issue went away!

It was exactly how an Observer's dashboard looks when they are Observing more than one student.    Thanks!

[dbrace]

Glad that you figured it out, @sjones11, and you are welcome. Thank you for following up.

While not something I have experience with because I work in higher-ed, it seems like the student was able to generate their own pairing code and then might have given it to someone else.

How do I generate a pairing code for an observer a... - Instructure Community - 418

How do I link a student to my user account as an o... - Instructure Community - 539

I did not think it was possible for a "student" to observe another "student" though. If you want an explanation, not sure how quickly you would get one though, you should probably reach out directly to Canvas Support.

-Doug

[sjones11]

Canvas wasn't really helpful as to how I might prevent that from happening.  I guess if one person creates and shares a code with another, who is to stop it?  I'm going to try again though because I'm not sure how frequently this is done between students and I'm not sure it is a desirable thing either.  It would be nice to be able to block it somehow...

Thanks!

[BrianLester]

This doesn't seem right. I would have an admin check the permissions for student as a course role Observer related permissions should be unchecked (ie not allowed).

No need to checked account roles as student is not an account role.

Lastly do the students actually have a student role? 

[sjones11]

Thanks for the ideas!  I had a look and certainly Students are there as a course role and it seems the only item related to Observers are unchecked.  (Image attached)

What am I missing???

student role permissions

[BrianLester]

I also see an option "Users generate observer pairing codes for students" in the Student column.

I would ensure that is not permitted

[sjones11]

Thanks.  I had a look and that seems to be set appropriately as well!