Canvas Commons: Like an Ice Cream Social for Learning Resources
Since the launch of Canvas Commons nearly a year ago, more than 660 schools have enabled the LOR in their Canvas instance, sharing 12,600 learning resources and making more than 800 of those publicly available. As the rate of shared resources within Commons increases by an average of 50 percent each month, our team remains focused on the big question: What makes Canvas users happy?
While we agree that ice cream rises to the top of all our lists (because who wouldn’t be happy using Canvas to teach, learn, engage, and share while enjoying a pint of butter brickle?), we ultimately concluded that openness—from the way we build our software to the way we communicate—is the key to happy users.
So, to create a learning object repository that will keep making you happy, we began with a platform where the best ideas can be freely shared (like an ice cream social for learning resources), and now we’re sweetening the deal by making Commons as open as possible (think free sundae bar).
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Free-for-Teachers – We want everyone to try Commons, regardless of your school or institutional affiliation (or tolerance for lactose), so we’re making it available in the Canvas Free-for-Teachers instance. Anyone with a free account can access Commons, preview content, and import resources to their courses and programs.
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Self-hosting – You add your own flair to a hot fudge sundae, so why not build Commons your way, too? We’re releasing a self-hosted version on August 8, 2015.
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API – We’re working to make the Commons API available soon, so you can upload multiple resources to Commons or import content to multiple courses all at once. It’ll be like speed-eating a jumbo banana split without getting an ice cream headache.
To see how Canvas Commons provides a truly open content ecosystem where you can build your own repository and access shared resources, visit our happy place. (Providing your favorite ice cream is up to you.)
Keep Learning,
Kate McGee
Product Manager, Commons
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