Canvas@Illinois, Canvas Commons

Canvas Commons, or "the Commons," is a helpful service that allows instructors to easily share content (such as modules, courses, assignments and more!) that can be imported into other Canvas courses taught by other instructors. It's best to think of Canvas Commons like a shared repository of Creative Commons resources. For example, let's say you created a final project assignment that might be useful for other instructors teaching your same course. You can share your assignment to the Commons for other instructors at Illinois to use as a template in their own courses that they can use and modify.

Not everyone will have access to Canvas Commons. You must have the role of Teacher in at least one active Canvas course.

More information about Canvas Commons can be found in the following guide from Instructure: What is Canvas Commons?

1. Log in to Canvas at canvas.illinois.edu.
   
   
2. In your global navigation menu, select Commons:
   
3. The first time you log in to Canvas Commons, you will be asked to authorize access. Select the Authorize button. If you do not see the Authorize button, you can proceed to step 4.
   
4. Once in the Commons, you'll be able to search for content by title, name, tag, or institution (in the screenshot below, this is the solid orange outlined area). By default, you will see resources that have been shared by people at Illinois. If you'd like to search for resources beyond just those from Illinois, you'll need to clear the filter (in the screenshot below, this is the blue dashed outlined area).
   
   Important note: Whenever importing external resources from the Commons, you are responsible for reviewing the accuracy of content (for example, reviewing/removing links to other institutions' resources) as well as the accessibility of the imported content. 
   

The Canvas Commons is a great way to find resources that have been shared by other educators, as well as a way to share some of your own resources with other educators. The Commons is a helpful tool but may not be ideal in all situations. You do not have to use the Commons to share a course with others. 

Use the following table to determine what is best for your use case:

What actually gets shared to the Canvas Commons will depend on the type of content you select. For example, if you share a single assignment to the Commons, it will only contain the information from the assignment (the text/instructions for the assignment, images/files that are linked from the instructions, etc.). If you share the entire course to the Commons, it will include everything (module structure, assignments, files, etc.) but will not include student submissions or grades.

Before sharing anything to the Commons:

• Make sure you do not accidentally share FERPA-related data. For example, if you share a group assignment that included a link to a file of group membership (listing group members and presentation times), this should be removed before sharing the assignment to the Canvas Commons. Grades/gradebook data is never transferred to the Commons. If you have provided links to past student work (that you provide as examples) this should also be removed before sharing your course to the Commons.
  
  
• Remove any materials that would violate copyright. If you have copies of these files in your course site, be sure to remove them before sharing the resource to the Commons.

If you have additional questions about Canvas Commons that are not answered in the Canvas Commons guide from Instructure, contact either of these resources at Illinois:

• Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (CITL) at citl-info@illinois.edu
• Technology Services Help Desk at consult@illinois.edu and ask that your request be escalated to the Canvas Support team.

There is currently a known issue with the shareable link when you attempt to use the "Copy Resource Link" button within the Commons. As a result, you will not be able to use the "Copy Resource Link" to share a link to a specific resource in the Commons. Instead, you (or your colleague) will need to search for the resource within Canvas Commons by searching for the title, the owner of the resource (the person who originally shared the resource), or a tag (if applicable).

The Canvas Commons is technically a separate tool from Canvas. As a result, the visual look of some pages/content will look different when previewing content in the Commons.

For example, you may have used DesignPLUS to style content in the course that's shared to Commons. When you preview the content in the Commons, the DesignPLUS elements no longer display and your content looks quite different (as if DesignPLUS is not used at all). This is expected within Canvas Commons; however, once that content is imported into a Canvas course, you would see the DesignPLUS elements again. In other words, the DesignPLUS elements are still there in the Commons but will not be displayed visually.