Canvas Commons Goes Global - Instance Regionalization

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KataKeri
Instructure
Instructure
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Canvas Commons Goes Global - Instance Regionalization

The Instructure Learning Platform is more than just software. It's a holistic approach to enable more impactful learning supported by a thriving global community of educators, administrators, and technologists. Canvas Commons is an embodiment of this community: a global learning repository of educational resources educators can leverage to create and share course content.

In order to make this collaborative space more inclusive of regional privacy needs,
Canvas Commons is “going global” with multi-region hosting for the Canvas Commons learning repository. 

Considerations for your Organization

European, Canadian, and Asia-Pacific organizations will automatically shift to our AWS regional servers located within each organization’s geographic area by August 19th unless your organization opts out using this form or communicating your desired region with your CSM. You can find the specific region your organization will move to in section II of our Commons Multi-regional FAQ. In addition, we will be adding this information to the Commons Admin screen in the coming weeks. You can use this to confirm which region your institution will be moving to.

We are excited for the benefit this will provide to your organization’s information security, but it is important to be aware of a few considerations:

  • Your organization’s members will not be able to newly import Canvas Commons objects from outside of your region. Similarly, your members will not be able to share objects outside of your region.
  • Organizations who are members of a consortium within Canvas Commons and whose instance is switched out of the consortium’s geographic region will not be able to access the Consortium’s resources.

Instructure is actively enhancing transparency regarding Data Privacy and striving to fulfill customer commitments by incorporating multi-region support into our initiatives. Though this means fewer learning objects within your organization, institutions like yours can rest assured that shared resources as well as collaborative groups and consortia are specific to your region’s unique security regulations. Commons regionalization supports this initiative, and we are excited for its ability to enhance the information security of your organization. 

You can learn more about specific technical details of the migration in our Commons Multiregional FAQ.

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The content in this blog is over six months old, and the comments are closed. For the most recent product updates and discussions, you're encouraged to explore newer posts from Instructure's Product Managers.

9 Comments
lmatthew2
Community Member

As a global university, our Canvas instance in the USA (USA-IAD) includes a campus in Canada (Canada - YUL) and Asia (Singapore- SIN). Does this migration on August 19 mean newly imported Canvas Commons content in our USA region will not be shared or downloaded with our sites? Will each Canvas Commons be separate to their region? To avoid this, the institution can fill out the opt-out form which would then override the regionalization. Does this have any privacy implications?

KataKeri
Instructure
Instructure
Author

hi @lmatthew2 

yes, it means that the content you have in Commons (which is by default would stay in the US) cannot be shared in Canada or Singapore, just in the US. Yes, they will be separate to their region.
The opt-out mean that you do not want to share you content in the US, and you would rather use a different hosting location. It can have privacy implications, yes, so I suggest you should contact you CSM if you want to do that - or if you have any further questions which are not answered in the FAQ we linked in the blogpost. 

KataKeri
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@lmatthew2 

Correction from my side - I thought that you are asking about consortiums - sorry for not asking back regarding this. So if the Canada and Singapore sites are hosted from the same Canvas instance in the US, there will be no problem with sharing Commons content. Sharing between different regions is what will no longer work. Lauren has the right information too, we talked about this in an other thread. 

yra
Community Member

Hi there,

I am trying to understand how this Commons sharing is working. Would you be able to give me a scenario where the Commons sharing will not work?

Thank you.

KataKeri
Instructure
Instructure
Author

Hi @yra 

In the FAQ doc please see section V. Commons Consortia, there's an example (cross-regional consortia). 

sharon_kitching
Community Contributor

Our Commons AU button doesn't seem to be working/not linked to our instance. Who would be the best point of contact for this? @KataKeri 

KataKeri
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@sharon_kitching Please contact your CSM who can forward this to us and we can take a look ASAP.  

KataKeri
Instructure
Instructure
Author

@sharon_kitching We started to investigate the issue, I'll update you through your CSM!

KayClucas
Community Member

Hi @KataKeri

The Opt-Out form is broken and I haven't receive a response from customer service on this for weeks. Crimson Global Academy is an online high school that operates globally, but our Canvas instance is setup in the Sydney region, which has lead to our teachers around the world only being able to view AU Commons content. Any advice on this is appreciated.

Support ticket ref: 10043737