Using Canvas Commons to Update Content in Multiple Courses at One Time

If you teach multiple sections of the same course during a semester, you may need to update content in your course from time to time. Typically, you would need to log in to the first course, edit the content, and then save your changes. Repeat this process for each of your other courses. If you have multiple sections of a course, this can be a time-consuming process…especially if there are lots of edits to make.

In Commons, you can share content to the Commons repository and then import that content to your other course sections. If and when you need to make updates to the shared content, you can update the original shared content. Commons will recognize there was an update, and it will ask you if you’d like to apply it to your other course sections. Think of it as “update once…distribute to many”.

Sharing Content to Commons

The first step is to share a piece of content to Commons. This is outlined in Sharing and Importing Course Content in Canvas Commons: Sharing Content to Commons.

Example: An instructor creates a content page in Course A, and she shares that page to Commons.

Importing the Content to Your Other Sections

Next, once your content has been shared to Commons, import that content from Commons to your other sections. This is outlined in Sharing and Importing Course Content in Canvas Commons: Importing Content from Commons to Your Course.

Example: The instructor uses Commons to import the content page to three additional sections of her Fall course in Canvas: Course B, Course, C, and Course D.

Updating the Content

If the content needs updating in multiple courses, make the changes in the original course…not the other sections. Then, re-share the content to Commons. You will be asked if this is an update to a previously shared resource.

You can update content that you have previously shared to Canvas Commons. Select the toggle switch "Is this an update to a previously shared resource" if you want to replace your resource with a new version.

You can also add version notes to let others know what was changed in this version compared to previously shared versions of the same resource.

When updating a previously shared resource, you can add version notes to inform users on what you updated.

Example: The instructor discovers that an entire paragraph on the content page needs to be replaced with new information. Instead of making the change in all four courses (Course A, Course B, Course C, and Course D), she makes the change only in Course A, and then re-shares the content page to Commons.

Updating the Other Courses

Once the content has been re-shared, Commons will detect that a change has been made. You can use Commons to update the other courses all at one time.

Example: The instructor sees a new notification in the Commons interface that there’s an update to review:

  1. In Commons, the instructor clicks on the Updates tab.
  2. She clicks on the View Update Notes button to view the details of the content page she re-shared earlier.
  3. She selects Course B, Course C, and Course D to apply this update to, and then she clicks the Update selected button. (She can also click the Dismiss selected button if she doesn’t want to update a selected course.)