How to Search and Filter Resources in Commons

Commons is a tool that allows teachers to search for, import, and share educational resources in Canvas. It’s a digital library where you can find a variety of materials, like courses, assignments, and multimedia, to use in your own courses. You can also share your own resources with other teachers. Commons makes it easy to enhance your course with new content and collaborate with others in the Canvas community.

Accessing and Searching for Resources in Commons

To access Commons, click the Commons link in Global Navigation.

Once you’re in Commons, you can search for resources like courses, modules, quizzes, assignments, discussions, documents, videos, images, and audio files, each marked with a unique icon and color. Enter keywords such as author, title, institution, or group in the search bar to find relevant materials.

You can sort the results by relevance, date, popularity, or downloads using the "Sort by" menu.

To see all available content, just leave the search field and filters empty.

Refining Your Search with Filters

To narrow down your search, you can apply various filters to find the most relevant resources. By clicking the Filter button.

You can refine your search by applying filters to narrow down the results. For instance, you can select CISD Approved Resources to view only those that have been approved by your admin. You can also filter by resource type, such as courses, modules, assignments, quizzes, and more. If you're looking for specific content types, filters are available for options like templates or open textbooks.

In addition, you can filter by grade level or education level, such as K-12, undergraduate, or graduate. Another filter option allows you to sort resources based on how they are shared—whether publicly, within your account, in a group, or within a consortium.

After selecting your desired filters, simply click the X next to Filter Results at the top to close the filter menu and view your refined search results.

Access and Preview Course Content

To preview the content, start by clicking the title to open the resource.

Once on the details page, you can explore the content by clicking the Preview, Details, and Version notes tabs.

The Preview tab allows you to view the resource content. The Details tab provides a summary, including the resource's description, author, account, suggested grade level, tags, duration (for audio/video), linked outcomes, sharing settings, and reviews. The Version Notes tab displays updates made to the resource, listed by date and time with descriptions of the changes.