Canvas Apps • FAQ

[#1]

• What is available in the Canvas Apps Experience today?
• What is the benefit of Canvas Apps compared to the Developer Keys page?
• What is still being developed?
• What information will be required for vendors to provide?
• This seems to duplicate the EduApp Center, are you deprecating it?
• Will instructors have access to install tools?
• Why doesn’t Canvas Apps support LTI 1.1 tools yet?
• Will admins be able to install using JSON?
• Which admins will have permission to access Canvas Apps?
• If we enable and use Canvas Apps, will Developer Keys and the historic LTI 1.1 interface disappear f...
• Will institutions have access to any historic data in the Monitor page?
• What apps will show in the Discover tab?
• What apps will show usage in the Monitor tab?
• What’s next for Canvas Apps?

What is available in the Canvas Apps Experience today?

• Discover page listing 157 LTI 1.3 tools, with 500 total tools available to be searched
• Streamlined install of LTI 1.3 app registrations via the Discover page
• Using Dynamic Registration, Paste JSON, JSON URL, and manual installation methods
• Using configuration information provided by the vendor to Instructure
• Installation of LTI 1.3 app registrations via the Manage page using information provided independently by the tool provider to you.
• Visibility of installed registrations via the Manage page, including information about who installed and updated the tool and when
• Edit capabilities for LTI 1.3 registrations on the Manage page

What is the benefit of Canvas Apps compared to the Developer Keys page?

• The new Apps page brings an easier install experience to users and will ultimately house both developer keys and tool deployment on the same page.
• The Discover page brings information about LTI 1.3 tools into Canvas, including security and accessibility information provided by the tool vendor.
• The installation process is clearer, faster, and provides more information about and control over the data the app will receive from Canvas and the places users will see the tool in Canvas.

What is still being developed?

• Teacher install experience and admin controls on which apps teachers can install
• Subaccount support
• Editability of inherited keys
• Deployment from the Manage page
• Ability to view and analyze 100% of tools with custom grouping in Monitor page for Impact subscribers
• Low usage alerts in Monitor page for Impact subscribers
• Ability to save filtering criteria in Monitor page for Impact subscribers
• ROI analysis in Monitor page for Impact subscribers

What information will be required for vendors to provide?

• We will strongly encourage partners to focus on data privacy and accessibility, have published Data Privacy Policies and VPATs, and to share that information via their App listing.
• We are encouraging partners to enter their configuration information in our system to enable the streamlined installation process (and reduce the need for complex instructions on their end!)
• We are suggesting that vendors adopt Dynamic Registration as it enables tools to communicate directly with Canvas during configuration, reducing the risk of errors or misclicks.

This seems to duplicate the EduApp Center, are you deprecating it?

• We have long-term plans to deprecate the EduAppCenter, but as we do not yet have replacements for the key features, we have not determined a date. When a date is determined, we will give plenty of notice as well as time with both EduAppCenter and its replacement features up and running so it’s a smooth transition for users.

Will instructors have access to install tools?

• We know that vetting new tools is critical to success and that many institutions are concerned about facing legal liability if instructors install apps which are not accessible or responsible with user data.
• We are currently working to determine the best way for administrators to control which tools are available to instructors to install.
• We will not make the install process available to instructors without these controls.
• We will continue to respect the role permissions set for LTI tools.

Why doesn’t Canvas Apps support LTI 1.1 tools yet?

• The LTI 1.1 standard was deprecated by 1EdTech in 2022. We continue to support its use within Canvas as we know that many tools still utilize it, but we want to encourage tools to update to the LTI 1.3 standard. Part of that means prioritizing new features for LTI 1.3 first. 
• We also provide usage data on all versions of apps used, but intentionally provide a drill down into tool details to identify if 1.1 apps are being used and where, so that institutions can easily migrate to 1.3.

Will admins be able to install using JSON?

• We will support both Paste JSON and JSON URL as installation methods.
• Manual installation will also be supported
• Users will have access to the same information they have previously used with these methods through a new UX.

Which admins will have permission to access Canvas Apps?

• Account admins with the permission for “LTI Registrations - manage”
• Currently, Canvas Apps is only available to root account admins.

If we enable and use Canvas Apps, will Developer Keys and the historic LTI 1.1 interface disappear from Admin?

• Developer Keys and the historic LTI 1.1 interface will still be accessible and the data will stay synchronized between the two.

Will institutions have access to any historic data in the Monitor page?

•  The Monitor page will show data as of the “born on” date noted in this guide.

What apps will show in the Discover tab?

• There are hundreds of apps made to integrate with Canvas via LTI registrations. The Discover tab lists a collection of tools that are known to Instructure. If you feel an app is missing or incorrect, please let the app provider know.

What apps will show usage in the Monitor tab?

• The list of apps that will show usage in the Monitor tab is always expanding so please continue to reference this guide for the latest information. 

What’s next for Canvas Apps? 

• We are continuing to build out the features for Canvas Apps, with our next feature set focused on controlling which subaccounts and courses an app can be used in from the root account level. This will allow admins to see from one central location everywhere that an app can be used and make it simple to change that availability as needed. Longer term, we are investigating options to make inherited keys editable, to enable updating of dynamically registered apps when the app provider releases new features, and exploring how we can make admin approved apps available for teachers to install.

Can the Monitor tab be disabled?  

• Yes, the Monitor tab can be disabled by disabling the LTI Apps - Monitor feature flag for users who are extremely privacy conscious. All data is aggregated except for Unique Users of tools, so Admins can see who actually is using each tool (just not to what degree).

[mbmacdonald]

@AlexisNast hi - is Canvas Apps still beta only? I can't find the feature preview to toggle on in Production

[AlexisNast]

@mbmacdonald It is still beta only for now, but we're getting close to making it available in production! We'll make sure to announce here and the release notes. There may also be a blog post as well!

[jasonmiciano]

Hello, 

Will there be a future feature where the reporting will be accessible via the canvas API?

Thanks!

-Jason Miciano

[teryn_odom]

@jasonmiciano Thanks for the question! Yes, the goal is for all of the LTI usage data from the Monitor tab to go into Canvas Data 2/DAP to be leveraged at scale as institutions desire. Some work has to happen on the DAP side first for this to happen, so we don't have a clear GA date yet. We are working to make it happen as soon as possible though. 🙂