How do I embed a Twitter search in my Canvas site?

Today we got a fabulous support question that made me go green with envy over a course site.

How do I embed a Twitter search in my Canvas site?

Twitter is one of my favorite things (yes, beating out Canvas), and I love seeing it in academic and professional settings. This instructor’s Twitter widget is up and running. Here’s how we did it.

Step 1. Install the Twitter LTI tool in your Canvas course site.

LTI is a fancy way of saying “tool that integrates with Canvas and other learning management systems.” It’s an extension of the LMS. You can find the tool at https://www.edu-apps.org/index.html?tool=twitter

In a different tab or window, open your Canvas course site, go to Settings, and choose the Apps tab. Click on Add a New App.

• Name: Twitter
• Consumer Key/Shared Secret: Enter any value for these fields. Any key and secret will work for this app.
• Set the Configuration type to URL, and then paste in the URL from the earlier website.

Click Submit.

(Full directions with screenshots)

Can’t I just use a regular Twitter widget?

Not really. Canvas only supports certain HTML coding, and the code required for a regular Twitter widget isn’t included.

Step 2. Use the tool to embed a widget on a page.

The next step is to make a Twitter widget for the search at https://twitter.com/settings/widgets/. Set the height to 300 px. Copy the embed code you get there.

Back in Canvas, edit the page where you want the feed to appear. In the text editor, click on the little Twitter bird (aka Larry).

In the popup window, paste in the code, and click on “Add.”

Save the page to see your brand new widget.

Happy Tweeting!

Last Updated: 6 Feb 2014