Direct Link to Canvas Commons content not working

[macoe]

I have uploaded a page to Canvas Commons for my staff that I would like them to incorporate into their courses as a template. When I try and provide the direct resource link from commons, the link takes the teachers to the generic Canvas log on page. Our school district has their own instance of Canvas. Even if the teacher logs into our Canvas instance and then tries to click on the link, the link still directs them to the generic Canvas log on (Which we do not have) and no way to verify our SSO (Our SSO is Google but clicking the Google icon doesn't work either).

Is there a solution to this? As it stands, I'm having to tell my teachers exactly what to filter to find out template for their course.

[kmeeusen]

Hi @macoe 

Canvas Commons is tied directly to Canvas accounts, and can only be accessed through Canvas.

But wait, there's more.........................................

There is an easy work-round for this that I just tested, post the link in Canvas. I would suggest using a global announcement for teachers only. I realize that some teachers won't need it, but the ones who do will get it.

Alternately, while more tedious, you could filter your Admin People tab to show instructors, then message each instructor the link. Unfortunately, you have to do this one teacher at a time.

Finally, have you tried playing with Blueprint Courses yet. You could push the desired page to all necessary courses using a blueprint course. Learn more at....

• How do I enable a course as a blueprint course as an admin?
• How do I associate a course with a blueprint course as an admin?
• How do I lock course objects in a blueprint course as an admin?
• How do I sync course content in a blueprint course as an admin?
• How do I view the sync history for a blueprint course as an admin?

Good luck,

Kelley

[laura_schmidli]

Is there any update on this? Is fixing this issue any kind of priority for Instructure? 

The "Resource Link" from Canvas Commons is entirely not functional, which defeats the purpose of sharing items to Canvas Commons. I work at a large institution, and the suggested workarounds are not scalable. 

[ScottBuhr]

Same issue here. The solution provided doesn't fix the problem that the resource link won't open to the specific institution login page from which it was shared. 

[ScottBuhr]

Through trial and error it looks like it will only work for folks who have already navigated to the canvas commons. If they have not been there before it won't work. Still, I have trouble opening a link from time to time and have to use the search bar to find it. 

[SusanNiemeyer]

Here is my question: why are you all using Canvas Commons? As an instructor, I have found Canvas Commons to be particularly unhelpful.

Why not simply create an in-house Template or development course? 

[ScottBuhr]

Hi Susan, 

The commons is a nice way to share pages or assignments that you want professors to be able to very quickly and easily add to their course. Here is an example: 

I created an activity for the students in our teacher education program that we'd like to do in multiple teacher ed courses. It's called "Start My Class" and involves students opening a teacher's class to practice getting up in front of a group and preparing something to share. I shared the assignment in Canvas for all of our professors to pull directly into their courses. Many of them modify it slightly to fit them, but they can pull it right into their course with no modification as well. This brings in the rubric as well and the formatting of the page/assignment. We have several items like this and they have seemed to work well so far. Just an example. Here is a link if you'd like to take a look, though if that doesn't work you can just search for "start my class" in the commons. 

[GarethLogan]

I am seeing this issue at my Institution as well at the moment. has anyone found a good workaround? @ScottBuhr @laura_schmidli 

thanks! Gareth 

[ScottBuhr]

Unfortunately, no. People still need to have accessed the Commons before the link will work. More often than not I have to tell them to search for the resource and look for my name as the author. 

[GarethLogan]

Thanks @ScottBuhr for me it seems that i can never get the resource link to work, even if i have accessed the commons. The link always directs me to https://canvas.instructure.com/login/canvas . Ive tried putting the link in a Canvas page . no luck. Do you managed your LTI config? does yours have a Launch URL of https://commons-fra-prod.instructure.com/api/lti ? 

thanks! Gareth 

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

There are a couple of things that might cause the problems described in this discussion, One is whether the Commons resources are properly shared. These Canvas Commons guides include references to the sharing options:

How do I share a course to Commons? 

How do I share a resource to Commons? 

Note that some sharing options will prohibit other users, even those in the same Canvas instance, from viewing the shared items.

Another problem confronts those institutions that use a vanity URL (like canvas.school.edu). We do at my college and our users cannot access a direct Commons link with that URL, so they have to do the careful search for resources. So when I create resources to share I include keywords in the description to make searching easier.

Another option is to have the Canvas admins at your college identify the resources as "approved," as there is a filter for resources that have been approved for your instance of Canvas. That will make searching much easier. In case you're not familiar with this, here are a couple of Commons Guides documents that describe how (note that non-admin users can be designated as curators for a Canvas Commons instance): 

How do I allow and manage approved content in Commons? 

How do I manage approved content in Commons? 

A final option is to download the resource and share the file in another way (likely host it online if it's too large to email). This workaround avoids the elegance of Commons but still requires the users to import the resource.

I’m going to mark my response as a solution, but there can be more than one. I hope our colleagues here in the Community share other options.