Template Courses in Canvas

Template Courses in Canvas (Instructors)

Course templates allow you to configure, store and reuse an entire course or Units of a course, such as quizzes, assignments, surveys, images, and so on, and then use the Units in individual course offerings. Contact the Center for Faculty Success (facultysuccess@twu.edu) to discuss your requirements and determine the best option for your Academic Unit or department. Options available:

• Shared Canvas Course - Academic Unit and Department owned Sandbox Courses for instructors to share resources. No Students can be added to a Shared Canvas Course or Sandbox Courses. A Shared Canvas Course is a Sandbox Course with an Academic Unit name, Sandbox Courses have specific naming standards for a single instructor or multiple instructors teaching the same course.

• Canvas Commons - Commons is a learning object repository that enables instructors to find, import, and share resources. A digital library of learning objects, Commons allows Academic Units to publish learning resources for instructors to import into a Canvas course. The Instructor (content creator) publishes content from a Sandbox or Shared Canvas Course to the Commons for other instructors in the Academic Unit to use. Course Instructors are responsible for importing a copy of the Commons course, no content is locked.

• Canvas Blueprint - Instructors who manage blueprint courses add content to the blueprint course like any other course in Canvas. By adding course content to the blueprint course, the instructor builds the blueprint for all associated courses. Upon syncing, all content from the blueprint course is copied into the associated courses. Instructors can then customize associated courses by adding new content, editing unlocked content, and adding LTI tools.

Shared Canvas Course

Despite the name, a Shared Canvas Course in Canvas is not the final or finished product of a course. Any Shared Canvas Course you contribute to will never be used by students or published. A Shared Canvas Course is a place for instructors to collaborate on course creation. This works especially well for common assessments and assignments that all instructors that teach different sections of the same course will use. You can easily import content from your Shared Canvas Course to your Canvas course.

Getting Started

To request a Shared Canvas Course, contact Canvas Support. Include a suggested name for the Shared Canvas Course and who needs to be added as a Teacher in the course. There are preferred naming standards for Shared Canvas Courses that will be applied. The Shared Canvas Course will be created and the Teachers added to the course.

Canvas Commons

To provide additional structure use Canvas Commons. If your Academic Unit or department assigns individuals to design courses (rather than collaborate and collate course creation) consider Commons. Canvas Commons include:

• The best practice is for content creators to use a Master (Sandbox) course to publish and share resources to Commons from Canvas. An instructor of the Sandbox can share assignments, modules, quizzes, pages, and discussions in Canvas to Commons. Review

  • What information do I need to share a resource to Commons?

  • What types of content licenses are available in Commons?

  • How do I share a course to Commons?

  • How do I share a resource to Commons?

  • How do I edit the details of a resource in Commons?

  • How do I update a resource I previously shared to Commons?

• TWU content loaded into Commons is only searchable by TWU users. Find Commons resources by searching for a specific keyword, author, institution, or title. Searching Commons can be challenging and difficult to find resources. Use unique Meta Tags specific to your Academic Unit or Commons Group to quickly locate your Commons learning resources.

• Instructors can use Commons to search for and import content into their Canvas courses. Instructors can import courses, modules, assignments, quizzes, discussions, pages, or files from Commons into a Canvas course. Imported resources retain their original published or unpublished status. Review:

  • How do I preview resources in Commons?

  • How do I import and view a Commons resource in Canvas?

  • How do I view updates to resources I previously imported from Commons?

• A Commons Group is created for the Academic Unit. Commons Groups are a subset of users within Canvas that can be used to jointly manage or limit access to Commons content. In order for a user to be added to a group within the Commons, the user must access the Commons, to generate their account. The Commons may be accessed from the Global Navigation Menu in Canvas. Review How do I manage Groups in Commons?

  • Group managers can change the group's name, add or remove group members, make other members group managers, and edit or delete Commons resources shared to the group. A Group Manager is a role that must be assigned by an Admin.

  • Group Members can upload and download content to and from the Commons group. Content uploaded to the group is available only to other members of the group.

Getting Started

To request a Master (Sandbox) Course(s) and a Commons Group, contact the Center for Faculty Success (facultysuccess@twu.edu) to discuss your requirements and define several best practices for your Academic Unit or department.

Additional Resources Available

1. Contact an Instructional Designer to design your Master (Sandbox) courses and share content to Commons.

2. Review Canvas Commons documentation.

3. To request technical support, contact Canvas Support.

Canvas Blueprints

In Canvas, a Blueprint course allows an instructor or Academic Unit to create a master course template that can be used to distribute content, assignments, and settings to multiple associated courses and, if necessary, prevent content from being edited. This ensures consistency across multiple course sections or related courses. If a Blueprint course is synchronized with a semester course not taught by the Blueprint creator, the creator is agreeing to share course intellectual property with the instructor of record of the associated course. Types of Blueprint associations:

• Associated Course - An academic course that has been linked to a Blueprint (master) course. An associated course will maintain locked content and receive updates and content changes from the Blueprint course. Updates made in the Blueprint course can be pushed out (synched) to all associated courses. The recommendation is that once the Blueprint course is associated, do not make additional changes in the Blueprint course for the semester; it can rearrange and/or duplicate content in the associated course.

• Dissociated Course - A dissociated Blueprint course is one that was previously linked to a Blueprint course but has been disconnected. When a course is dissociated from a Blueprint, it will no longer receive content changes from the master course and no content will be locked.

Content can be locked (or left unlocked) by any instructor with permission to manage the blueprint course and is not allowed to be modified by instructors in the associated courses. Lockable course objects include content, points, due dates, and availability dates. Users can set objects to be locked generally or by type. Lockable content types include Assignments, Discussions, Pages, Files, and Quizzes. Canvas Blueprints include:

• Due to the fact that the Blueprint process pushes content into multiple courses/sections, with multiple instructors, an Academic Unit Leader has been involved in all decisions and established best practices for using Blueprint courses.

• The Blueprint Course owner / coordinator will submit a Service Desk Ticket or send an email with a list of Canvas Courses to Associate with the Blueprint Course. Include information about the timing to disassociate the Blueprint Course(s) from the Associated Canvas Course.

• The Blueprint Course owner / coordinator may change object definitions and attributes for locked objects in Course Settings at any time. However, unlocking any previously locked attribute retroactively applies to all related locked objects in the associated course. If a previously locked attribute is enabled, or unlocked, in the blueprint course, any locked content attributes in the associated course that vary from locked content attributes in the blueprint course will trigger an unsynced change and override the content in the associated course. Please ensure definitions and attributes are specified before making associated courses available to instructors. Review:

  • How do I lock course objects in a blueprint course as an instructor?

  • How do I sync course content in a blueprint course as an instructor?

• Instructors teaching courses associated with the Blueprint course should review:

  • How do I view the blueprint sync information for a course associated with a blueprint course?

  • How do I manage content for a course associated with a blueprint course?

• Blueprint courses do NOT:

  • Include any student or observer enrollments

  • Have to be published

  • Include the Reset Course Content button, as content cannot be reset

  • Synchronize certain course settings to associated courses, including time zone, term, and course format

Getting Started

To request a Blueprint Course, contact the Center for Faculty Success (facultysuccess@twu.edu) to discuss your requirements and define several best practices for your Academic Unit or department.

Support Options

1. To request a Blueprint Course, contact the Center for Faculty Success (facultysuccess@twu.edu) to discuss your requirements and define several best practices for your Academic Unit or department.

2. Contact an Instructional Designer to design your Blueprint courses and discuss definitions and attributes before making associated courses available to instructors.

3. Canvas Support will be available 24/7 by phone, live chat, or email through the Help menu within Canvas after you have logged in. For more information see How to Contact Canvas Support.

4. If you are unable to log in, please contact the Technology Service Desk at 940-898-3971 or servicedesk@twu.edu for assistance.