The sidebar provides members in your Academy with multiple gadgets for easier navigation. These range from Shortcuts to Games to Groups. The sidebar is always visible on the left side of the screen, even if you have none of the gadgets set-up.
As an Admin, you can decide which Gadgets users can see. Click on the three dots next to the sidebar and select Academy Sidebar Settings. These settings can also be found in the Academy Workspace by going to Academy Admin -> Settings -> Control Panel.
In the Sidebar tab, you can select the settings for the gadgets, and reorder them by clicking on Reorder.
For each gadget, you can decide the Academy Standard for the Gadget Visibility and Workspace Visibility. For Shortcuts, you can also decide on the standard order of the workspace gadgets.
If you turn off both options for the Gadget Visibility, members will not be able to see or adjust this gadget at all for themselves. For the Workspace Visibility, as well as the shortcut selection, you will just be setting the default.
After you decide which gadgets should be visible, and what the standard options should be, members can adjust this to their personal preference. See: Managing the Sidebar (Learner)
Note that the color scheme used for the sidebar is part of the colors you decided on when setting up the Academy Branding. See: Customizing Your Academy's Look (Branding)