How can I integrate canvas for certification?

[nmajethiya]

Hello,

We are looking for customised solution for canvas product.

We have working system where we have implemented flow for the certification. 
Our client needs to integrate Canvas with our product so please let us know the possible feasibility. Certification flow in our application is as follows,

1.  Institute creates certificate template in to the system.
2.  Course is added by an institute. (Course Name, Course Category, Template, Course Number, Course Description)
3. Batch is created and students are invited for that batch. Batch is then finalised in blockchain. Once batch is finalised, it can not be altered. (Batch Name, Batch Number, Max Student, Course, Start Date, End Date, Certificate Issue Expiry Date, Branch)
4. Certificate for that batch will be issued in blockchain. (Certificate Name, Course, Batch)

Fields that are given in braces are compulsory fields.

Based on the above flow that we have, what are the possible integrations that we can make, if we want to use canvas for LMS ?

[stuart_ryan · Accepted solution]

Hi Nirav,

Assuming your application can talk with Canvas' APIs, this is definitely something you could do.

On step 2, you could use the Canvas Courses API Courses - Canvas LMS REST API Documentation to create the course in Canvas, the benefit of doing so is that your system can then store the resulting ID for future interactions or you could set the Course SIS ID field to populate your systems unique ID into Canvas.

On step 3 you would use the users API to first create the students Users - Canvas LMS REST API Documentation  and then the Enrolments API to enrol them into the created course (from step 2) Enrollments - Canvas LMS REST API Documentation.

You can see the full API documentation at Canvas LMS REST API Documentation  and I anticipate you would need to get a grade back to mark the student as completed (which you can also do).

The APIs are quite extensive, I would recommend reviewing each of the end-points at the above link, that will give you a lot more detail on what touchpoints you can interact with via the API.

Hope that helps!

Stuart

[nmajethiya]

Hii  @stuart_ryan ‌,

Thanks for the reply.
I have some more questions that I'm posting below. Please help me for the answers for that too,

I want to know about the certificate issue process that currently canvas have.
Will I get Web hook for users when they complete the course ? What if I need to issue certificate at some particular event of certificate completion ? (which event will I get for that ?)

Also what are the possible ways to include concept like batch of students and what if I want to generate certificates for entire batch, rather than a single student ?

Also for the web hook, will I get web hook for 1. Create Course, 2. Enrol Students, 3. Certificate Generate ? I will need all three web hooks

Regards,
Nirav

[stuart_ryan]

Hi Nirav,

Currently Canvas does not have any certificate issue process out of box, that would be something you would need to complete separately in your application.

You can see all the web-hooks here Webhooks Subscriptions - Canvas LMS REST API Documentation. You would not receive a web hook on completion of the course (as, in many cases, that could be subjective). However, you could listen for an assignment completion for the final assignment (of a particular ID as an example).

The best way to ascertain which one would work for you would be to prototype this. I would suggest it would likely be done on the grade_change event in Canvas, you would then need to scrutinise what grade was changed and why, and then build logic to decide if and when you issue a certificate in your application.

Depending on how you build the integration and whether your application pushes things like course and assignment creations through to Canvas, you may be able to use significantly more smarts with your application being pre-aware of the different courses and assignment IDs for making sense of the context of a grade_change event.

Regarding batch certificates, as mentioned, Canvas does not issue certificates, therefore, it would be your application that would manage that process.

For your last question, web-hooks are only used when you need Canvas to tell you something (such as an assignment submission or grade change). For the elements you have referred to these are the APIs and I anticipate you would need the Courses API, Enrolments API, and possibly several of the Gradebook/Grades API endpoints to achieve what you are looking to.

Hope that helps!

Stuart