Using Canvas to host a small conference?

[sboyd5]

I am organizing a small conference on the Morris campus. Participants will be faculty and students from about 15 to 17 other small colleges across the Midwest.

My plan so far is to create a Google sites page for the outside visibility, and link a canvas course for purposes of:

1. registration

2. submission of abstracts

3. sharing of program and other information

4. sharing of participant information as far as desired by participants

5. discussion groups

etc. 

I think a lot of the functionality of Canvas would serve my purposes. However, I wonder if there are restrictions in terms of people who can be participants in a Canvas site? Are there better options for the inside part of a Conference website? Any experiences or examples?

Thanks so much!

Sylke Boyd, physics faculty, Unicersity of Minnesota Morris

[ryan_corris]

Hey @sboyd5!

Based on your comment about creating a Google Sites page for outside visibility, I am guessing you are using an instance of Canvas specific to Morris and not a free account.  If this is true, here are two things I would make sure to check with your institution:

• Are you allowed to share the enroll link with people outside your institution to have them join your course?  Always good to make sure that you are not going over any allowable limits for users.
•  If outside people are allowed to use the enroll link to join your course, will they be able to create an account in your institution's instance of Canvas?  My institution has users sign in via a single sign on process and they cannot create their own account.  Therefore, if you are not set as a user within our Canvas instance, you will not be able to login.

This may not be an issue for you, but I would definitely check to make sure all is good with the process.

Good luck with your conference!