Change the privacy (private-public) of a group

Group admins can change the privacy of their group (except the platform group, which is private and cannot be changed).

A group can be public or private. Admins of a group automatically have administrator permissions on all groups below it.

• Public
  • Members of the group can be seen by other members of the group, and members of all publicly connected groups.
  • Learners of the group are automatically added to all higher level groups (groups closer to the platform group), until and including the first private group encountered.
  • Comments (in the forum of a course’s activity or a learning need) published in the group can be seen by members of the group, and members of all publicly connected groups.
  • Messages (in the newsfeed of a group, or the profile page of a user) published in the group can only be seen by members of the group.
• Private
  • Members of the group can be seen by other members of the group, and members of all publicly connected groups.
  • Comments (in the forum of a course’s activity or a learning need) published in the group can be seen by members of the group, and members of all publicly connected groups.
  • Messages (in the newsfeed of a group, or the profile page of a user) published in the group can only be seen by members of the group.

A public group is publicly connected to another group if they share the same lowest private ancestor. There must be a public connection between them through the group hierarchy links.

A private group is publicly connected to all public groups below it, that are not separated by another private group. A private group is not publicly connected to any group above it.

Turn a public group into a private group

Turning a public group into a private group will restrict visibility on posts and members (to only the public groups below the group). Learners who were added to higher-level groups remain in those groups.

1. In the left sidebar, hover over a public group, then click Settings.
   • If Settings doesn’t appear in your sidebar, click on the group first, then click Settings in the top right of the main section.
2. In the section Privacy, select Private.

Turn a private group into a public group

Turning a private group into a public group will expand visibility on posts and members (to all new publicly connected groups), and add learners to all higher-level groups, up to and including the first private group encountered.

1. In the left sidebar, hover over a private group, then click Settings.
   • If Settings doesn’t appear in your sidebar, click on the group first, then click Settings in the top right of the main section.
2. In the section Privacy, select Public.