Canvas LMS (OneRoster 1.1) Integration
8/2/2021
Our student information system (SIS) should work well with external learning management systems (LMS). There is good utility for customers when the two systems cooperate and share data.
The first useful flow of data is for setup. It’s very helpful when the SIS can send instructors, courses, students, etc to the LMS for automatic roster setup. We support multiple ways to do this through OneRoster, Clever, Google API, and CSV files. This has been in place for some time, and is widely used.
The second useful flow of data is returning scores from the LMS into the SIS gradebook. When students work in the LMS and teachers give grades, it’s beneficial for the scores to flow back into the SIS gradebook -- and instructors won’t need to double enter the data. We already implemented this with Google Classroom, which is used by many of our clients.
We just released a similar integration for Canvas, using the OneRoster 1.1 standard. So if you use Canvas, we can pull your grades into our system. Feel free to reach out to our technical services team if you’re a Canvas customer and would like to enable this functionality. Do be aware that this requires a full TeacherEase subscription, and not just “Gradebook Only.” So there may be additional costs for the integration.
One difference between our Google and Canvas integrations is timeliness. Google sends us updates in real time (every time a user enters a score, Google sends us a small update). For Canvas, we get a nightly update (they send us one big file daily). So the Canvas scores will not appear in TeacherEase until the following morning.
Once the integration is configured, assignments from Canvas are automatically added to the gradebook. Instructors can view synced assignments by navigating to:
Gradebook > Setup > External Assignments
Assignments are organized in three tables. The first is assignments with errors or missing data. Most errors can be corrected in TeacherEase by clicking the “edit” button.
The third table is assignments currently syncing with Canvas and the second is assignments where the sync has been turned off. Click the checkbox to move assignments between the two.
The entire workflow is covered in more detail in these knowledge base articles:
Canvas LMS Integration (for admins)
Canvas Assignments in TeacherEase (for teachers)
The Canvas integration supports traditional grading only, and doesn’t support standards-based grading. That could be a future improvement, but is currently not well supported by the OneRoster 1.1 standard.
We used the OneRoster 1.1 standard to implement the Canvas integration. This work has the potential to be extended to other LMS’es that also support OneRoster 1.1 (like Schoology). It would require a little more development work, which we’re interested in pursuing. If you’re a Schoology customer (or another LMS that supports OneRoster 1.1), we’d be interested in working with you on the integration. Feel free to reach out to your account manager, or our support team.
The Common Goal Team
