What are Collaborations?
Collaborations allow multiple users to work together on the same document at the same time. Collaborative documents are saved in real-time, meaning a change made by any of its users is immediately visible to everyone.
Depending on your institution and course settings, you can collaborate using Google Docs, Google Assignments, Google Drive files, and Microsoft Office files.
When would I use Collaborations?
You can use Collaborations to:
- Copy and paste notes that everyone can access.
- Share bullet-point lists or agendas for upcoming synchronous class or group time or meetings.
- Create a text-based whiteboard that everyone in the classroom can see and refer to later.
- Assign student groups a collaborative assignment as a graded assignment (instructor feature).
View Google Docs Collaborations
All Canvas courses support Google Docs as the default collaborations tool. Collaborations that leverage Google Docs require that all participating students have created and linked their Google account to their personal Settings.
Google Docs allows you to add up to 50 users per collaboration, and all users can view and edit a document at the same time. However, Google collaborations has a limit as to the number of users who can access a collaboration at any time.
Learn how to create a Google Docs collaboration as an instructor and create a Google Docs collaboration as a student.
View Google Assignments LTI 1.3 Collaborations
Collaborations also supports the Google Assignments LTI 1.3, which is enabled in a course as an external app. Google collaborations not only allow users to create Google Docs, but they can also create other Google Workspace files.
In order to use collaborations, Canvas admins need to enable the Google Assignments LTI 1.3 integration and configure it with the necessary credentials.
Learn how to create a Google Assignments LTI 1.3 collaboration as an instructor and create a Google Assignments LTI 1.3 collaboration as a student.
View Google Drive Collaborations
You can also create collaborations through the Google Apps LTI, which is enabled in a course as an external app. Google Drive collaborations allow you to collaborate on Google Spreadsheets and Google Presentations.
The Google Apps integration requires enabling the External Collaborations Tool account feature option. However, enabling this feature changes the Collaborations interface and removes any existing Google Docs collaborations.
Learn how to create a Google Drive collaboration as an instructor and create a Google Drive collaboration as a student.
View Microsoft Office Collaborations
When the Microsoft Office 365 LTI is enabled in a course as an external app, you can collaborate using a Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file.
Learn how to create a Microsoft LTI collaboration as an instructor and create a Microsoft LTI collaboration as a student.
