The Instructure Community will enter a read-only state on November 22, 2025 as we prepare to migrate to our new Community platform in early December. Read our blog post for more info about this change.
TL:DR; There is a free self-paced course on Canvas Network that can get a non-programmer to write scripts with Ruby & the Canvas API...
Calling all Canvas admins who have ever been frustrated by an Instructure employee telling you, "It can be done through the API." The barrier to entry for using the Canvas API and programming in general can seem very high. Luckily, it's easier to learn than you think.
As an Implementation Consultant, I understand how frustrating it is to be limited in what you can do through the UI alone. I've spent the last 18 months as an onsite resource for a Canvas client, and have needed to leverage the Canvas API more times than I can remember. Whether it is to pull information, or push a default grading scheme to courses, there are some things that are just easier through the API.
I've spent a very long time these past few months building curriculum and recording videos as part of the instructional unit. This course is being offered by me, and is not to be considered an official Instructure course. If the engineers saw my code they might have an aneurism because it is pretty far from beautiful. However, the intentional design of the course is to help Canvas Administrators, who like me once, thought that writing a script and running it on your own computer was a task for only the smartest of people.
The course is divided into 5 instructional units, with over 2 hours of recorded video and exercises to accompany them. The course is fully self-paced and does not have a close date. Hope you enjoy!
Sign up for the Ruby & the Canvas API
20 Comments
Community help
To interact with Panda Bot, our automated chatbot, you need to sign up or log in:
Sign in