Commons is a learning object repository (LOR) that enables educators to find, import, and share learning resources in their Canvas courses. Commons gives you a way to collaborate with colleagues, share course design elements, explore new instructional ideas, and even iterate your own course design.
What's in Commons
You can find and share these course elements in Canvas Commons:
- Modules
- Assignments
- Quizzes
- Discussions
- Pages
- Documents
- Multimedia resources
… and even full courses!
Everything shared with the PSU community appears on the main PSU Commons page — but you can also open your search to all public resources across institutions and Canvas sites. You can search for keywords such as author, institution, or title. You can sort by latest, most relevant, or highest-rated resources. To customize your search, use the filter to show only specific types of activities, content types, or grade levels. Each resource type in search results has a unique color and icon augmenting its text label.
Examples of Commons Resources and Use Cases
Here are just a few examples of things you might find (or share) to improve your course:
- A home page template usable for all a department’s courses (example: Elementary GTEP Template Course Home Page)
- A module with content and activities useful to others in your department and possibly even university-wide (example: Get Started with Your Research at the Portland State University Library)
- A quiz you created with fellow instructors, for use as a common assessment (example: Midterm Exam – Spanish III)
- A new type of assignment you would like to try, but aren’t sure how to set up (example: Self-Graded Lab Assignment)
- A full course by another organization, with foundational elements you could adapt for your own course (example: AP Human Geography Full Year)
Importing Commons Resources into Your Course
Once you find a Commons resource you like, you can import it into your course.
Most of what you find will be openly licensed, because most people upload to the Commons to share their work with others. However, it’s always a good idea to note the licensing information on the Resource Preview page.
If a resource is copyrighted, ask permission before using it in your own course. This can include images, text, or other content created not only by another person but also by you — if you have transferred copyright to a publisher.
Consider first importing resources into a sandbox course. Then you can review the content in detail, edit, and then move it into the course you will use with students.
Sharing Course Resources in Commons
You can share assignments, modules, quizzes, pages, discussions and entire courses to Commons.
When sharing a resource to Commons, you’ll need to:
- Add details about the resource.
- Choose a sharing option.
- Select a content license.
The license you choose identifies how and to what extent others can reuse your original course content. A Creative Commons license allows you to share your content on your own terms. The benefit is that other instructors can use, build on, and improve your content. This creative collaboration can add value to your curriculum.
Note: The license you select for your resource in Commons is not tied to the license you set within Canvas course settings. Your course can be private in Canvas course settings, but public domain in Commons.
You’ll also need to choose how widely to share the resource:
- Publicly — to share your expertise and course materials with anyone who searches Commons.
- Within the PSU community — to create consistent design and student experience across courses or your department.
- Privately — so you can have your own collection of learning objects to use and re-use anytime you design a course.
You may also belong to a group or consortium that shares resources with select people. For more information about sharing to custom Commons groups, contact OAI Support.
Learn More Elsewhere
Tutorial
You Might Also Like
Growing with Canvas
Growing with Canvas is a self-paced training course to introduce the main Canvas tools. You can self-enroll through the Canvas learning system.…
Organizing Content in Canvas
Canvas has several tools for adding content to your course: Pages: Canvas-specific pages created within Canvas or imported from Commons Files: PDFs,…
Managing Your Canvas Site
Canvas has many features and tools for teaching a course. But you also need these “under the hood” functions for managing your course…
Getting Started with Canvas Basics
Course AccessTo access your PSU Canvas account, go to canvas.pdx.edu. You will be prompted to authenticate with your PSU Odin name and password. This…
Communicating in Canvas
Canvas has several ways to communicate with your students. Here are two of them: Announcements are course-wide. Inbox messages may be private…
Assignments in Canvas
Assignments in Canvas is both a specific kind of assessment and any Canvas activity associated with a grade. This video provides a basic overview:……
Student Interactions in Canvas
Student interaction plays an important role in learning and overall sense of community. Whether you’re teaching fully online, blended, or in-person,…
Discussions in Canvas
Discussions are threaded conversations on a single topic. They are asynchronous, which means participants do not have to be online at the same time,…
Using the Home Page in Canvas
When students log in to your course for the first time, they need something friendly and welcoming that orients them and explicitly communicates what…
Grading in Canvas
The Gradebook stores all information about student progress in the course, measuring both letter grades and course outcomes. This video provides a…
Using Canvas Modules
OAI recommends using Modules to develop course organization and navigation. Correctly using Modules simplifies navigation for your students. Modules…
Quizzes in Canvas
Though you and your students may use the terms “test” and “quiz” interchangeably, Canvas calls this type of assessment a…
Canvas Course Checklist
From basic settings to content organization, this course design checklist outlines the top tasks to make sure your Canvas course is ready for…
Navigating Your New Canvas Course
Using any tool for the first time can be overwhelming. This guide can help focus your attention on what matters most when getting started with…
Did you find what you were looking for?
If you couldn't find what you were looking for, tell us about it!