diff --git a/edx_exams/settings/devstack.py b/edx_exams/settings/devstack.py
index 2da411bd..7a6acbbd 100644
--- a/edx_exams/settings/devstack.py
+++ b/edx_exams/settings/devstack.py
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
 
 LMS_ROOT_URL = 'http://edx.devstack.lms:18000'
 
+# EVENT BUS
+
 EVENT_BUS_PRODUCER = 'edx_event_bus_kafka.create_producer'
 EVENT_BUS_CONSUMER = 'edx_event_bus_kafka.KafkaEventConsumer'
 EVENT_BUS_KAFKA_SCHEMA_REGISTRY_URL = 'http://edx.devstack.schema-registry:8081'
diff --git a/edx_exams/settings/local.py b/edx_exams/settings/local.py
index 81c7fcaa..5a752b68 100644
--- a/edx_exams/settings/local.py
+++ b/edx_exams/settings/local.py
@@ -135,11 +135,19 @@
 if os.path.isfile(join(dirname(abspath(__file__)), 'private.py')):
     from .private import *  # pylint: disable=import-error
 
+# EVENT BUS
+# Below are Django settings related to setting up the Open edX event bus.
+# Because the event bus requires a Docker based networking layer, as included in devstack, the event bus does not work
+# outside of a Docker container. Therefore, the settings related to networking are set to None, because this file is
+# used for the local application server. However, because these local Django settings are also used by Tutor, we include
+# sensible values for non-network related settings. Tutor users can override these settings when setting up the event
+# bus, including the network-related settings.
+
 EVENT_BUS_PRODUCER = 'edx_event_bus_kafka.create_producer'
 EVENT_BUS_CONSUMER = 'edx_event_bus_kafka.KafkaEventConsumer'
-EVENT_BUS_KAFKA_SCHEMA_REGISTRY_URL = 'http://edx.devstack.schema-registry:8081'
-EVENT_BUS_KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS = 'edx.devstack.kafka:29092'
 EVENT_BUS_TOPIC_PREFIX = 'dev'
+EVENT_BUS_KAFKA_SCHEMA_REGISTRY_URL = None
+EVENT_BUS_KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS = None
 
 # The EVENT_BUS_PRODUCER_CONFIG Django setting introduced in openedx-events 8.6.0 does not work properly.
 # In order to unblock development, EVENT_BUS_PRODUCER_CONFIG should be set to the empty object. Signal handlers