[UPDATE May 2021] The current deprecation date of September 1, 2021 is being pushed out to a later date. We are working with the Google Assignments Product Team to re-establish a new timeframe and will provide an update here in the near future as soon as it becomes available.
[UPDATE Dec 2020] Canvas and Google are working closely to deliver updates, which may vary from the dates mentioned in this blog post. Please view the Google Assignment page for the latest updates.
Last fall you heard we were working with Google to launch the new Google Assignments LTI tool. Assignments, an application for learning management systems, gives educators a faster, simpler way to distribute, analyze, and grade student work—all through the collaborative power of G Suite. After a successful Beta, we are excited to announce it’s now generally available to all Canvas customers.
Over the last several years, the Instructure product team has been working with Google to transition the existing Google Apps LTI to the new Google Assignments tool. This transition allows Google to maintain its own integration with Canvas, which will result in greater attention and updates than Instructure has historically been able to provide.
The existing Google Apps LTI is deprecated and will be removed from Canvas on September 1, 2021.All customers should set up Google Assignments in Canvas as a replacement.
What should I expect regarding the upcoming Google Apps deprecation?
Although the integration will be deprecated in September 2021, all instructor and student Google Drive files will remain intact.
A few benefits to expect from the new Google-owned experience include:
- Better stability, uptime, and direct support from Google for all API and login issues. Improved privacy, security, and compliance from the G Suite for Education terms of service.
- Ability to restrict student submissions to school-issued Google accounts vs. any Gmail address.
- Access to the latest Google Drive features when creating and selecting files.
How is Assignments different than Google Apps LTI?
Assignments includes all the current functionality of Google Apps LTI (excluding Collaborations, coming in Fall 2020), plus a ton of other great features.
What will I experience with Assignments?
Assignments streamlines the creation and management of coursework, and tackles some of your biggest frustrations:
- Check for missed citations and possible plagiarism with the originality reports feature
- Embed Drive files with the Canvas rich text editor
- Add Drive files to Canvas Modules
- Allow students to submit Drive files to Canvas assignments that you can grade in SpeedGrader
If you choose to grade with Assignments, you can also:
- Provide rich feedback quickly with a comment bank of your most frequently used feedback
- Use Google originality reports to detect possible plagiarism
- Automatically lock work once it’s turned in with permissions management
Other notable features of Assignments
1. 1.3 compliant. Google Assignments is available in the most recent standard via IMS Global, LTI 1.3. Google’s Certification
2. Google support for Canvas customers Only
3. New Originality Reports:
- Educators and administrators can save, download, and share reports
- Broader range of file types that you can scan, including Google Slides
- Additional languages are available, including Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Indonesian, and Italian
- The ability to identify potential plagiarism between students in a school-owned content repository (“school matches”) is now generally available for G Suite Enterprise for Education users
4. Security: Assignments is secure by design and built to the same best practices as the rest of G Suite for Education, so you can rely on privacy and data security for your educators and students. Google never assumes ownership of your data—that belongs to your organization. And because Assignments is built for learning, it meets rigorous educational compliance standards, including:
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- Student Privacy Pledge introduced by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)
- ISO/IEC 27018:2019 (privacy principles for the public cloud computing environment)
Explore more details in the Privacy & Security Center. Also take a look at our contracts under “8.1 Intellectual Property Rights” to see details on your data ownership rights.
Video Resources
- How to Grade with Assignments
- How to use Assignments with Canvas
- How to use Originality Reports
- Livestream: Google Assignments FAQ with Cat Flippen, Brian Hendricks, and Karl Lloyd
- Canvas + Google = Better Together
If you have additional questions, please reach out directly to Google support who can help you get started.
For product feedback, reach out directly within the Google Assignments product.
The content in this blog is over six months old, and the comments are closed. For the most recent product updates and discussions, you're encouraged to explore newer posts from Instructure's Product Managers.