Course Sharing

Option 1: Add your Course to Canvas Commons

Choose this option if you would like to share your course with Williams instructors. You can do this immediately.

In 2024, GLOW now has the Canvas Commons, a repository of courses and individual items shared amongst all instructors within GLOW. If you add a course to Canvas Commons, anyone at Williams with the instructor role* may import and adapt your content.

Please read the relevant documentation for steps on sharing a course to Commons.

*In rare cases, a student may have access to Canvas Commons because of their role as an instructor of an organizational GLOW page, such as for a club.

Option 2: Request a Course Copy

Choose this option if you would like to share your course with specific individuals. You must submit a request for a course copy. 

Faculty may want to share the setup or content of a past course with new faculty who will teach the course. Faculty interested in sharing their course(s) should submit the Course Sharing Request form with relevant details (complete course name and new faculty user name).

NOTE: Requests should come from the owner of a course and not other faculty or department administrators. 

Since past courses contain student enrollments and related coursework, FERPA does not permit the sharing of the original course but does permit the sharing of the faculty’s original course content (please see the College’s data classification policy). Once the request form is submitted, an unpublished temporary course will be created with your original course content imported into it. The new instructor you specified will be added as a Teacher to that temporary course. The new instructor may review and revise the temporary course content as needed in preparation for teaching. Once the Registrar creates the new official term course, the new faculty can then import updated content from their temporary course into the official term course.

About Course Media Gallery Content

  • Course Reserves/Streaming – As a service, the Libraries provide copyrighted materials for course use within a specific term. This content cannot be imported from one GLOW course into another. New instructors should submit a Library Course Reserve/Streaming request to have copyrighted titles added to the official Registrar term course (do not request to add content to your temporary course).
  • Privately owned audio/video content – Course Media Gallery content also cannot be imported from one GLOW course into another. Faculty wishing to share their own Course Media Gallery content (e.g. recorded lectures) should follow the instructions for moving Panopto course content.