Canvas Release: Google Apps LTI (2017-01-07)

[erinhmcmillan]

This document introduces the Google Apps integration as noted in the Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-01-07).

The Google Apps LTI can be configured manually by users who have permission to add and edit LTI tools.

When enabled, the Google LTI adds functionality to multiple areas in Canvas courses.

Canvas has improved its integration with Google Apps making it easier for instructors to include collaborations, content sharing, engaging course content, and assignment distribution directly within Canvas. The integration also makes it easy for students to collaborate with instructors and fellow students on individual or group assignments.

• Integration Details
• Google Drive Web Service
• Canvas Documentation
• Google Limitations
• Canvas Account-Level Features
• Authentication
• Canvas Course-Level Features
• Course Navigation
• Google Drive Account Changes
• Assignments
• Cloud Assignments
• File Upload Assignments
• Assignments in SpeedGrader
• Collaborations
• External Collaborations Tool Feature Option
• Files
• Modules
• Rich Content Editor
• Canvas Mobile App Features

Integration Details

Google Apps is an external app (LTI) available to institutions with Google Apps for education. However, anyone with a Google account can use this integration.

The Google Apps LTI supports Google Drive in Canvas and can be enabled at the account, sub-account, or course level in a Canvas production environment. The LTI must be configured manually by users who have permission to add and edit LTI tools.

• United States: Users can generate their own key and secret to install the LTI tool through the EduAppCenter Google app page. Instructors in Free-for-Teacher accounts can add the LTI to individual courses.

• Worldwide Regions: Users should contact their Canvas Customer Success Manager (CSM) for region-specific configuration credentials. Google is not currently available for instructors in Free-for-Teacher accounts.

Note: Once the Google Apps LTI is added to a production environment, the institution's beta environment will adapt the settings from the production environment on the next beta refresh, which will allow users to test the integration in beta. However, please note that the integration is still subject to all feature limitations that may exist in the beta environment.

Google Drive Web Service

This integration is not affiliated with the current Google Drive web service in Canvas. If instructors and students already have Google Drive set up as a web service, they will still have to authenticate through the LTI.

The Google Drive web service should be disabled by a Canvas admin in the Account Settings page. Retaining the web service may cause confusion for students, who would otherwise see tabs for both Google Drive and Google Doc when uploading a file submission.

Canvas Documentation

Documentation for the Google Apps LTI and related Google Drive features can be found using the Google Drive tag in the Canvas Guides.

Google Limitations

As part of the Canvas integration, some functionality is limited by Google. Users should be aware of the following limitations by Google in Canvas:

• Account sharing permissions can prevent sharing outside of an institution’s domain. Google admins can change the sharing permissions to allow documents to be shared outside the institution. This feature may affect institutions with trust accounts.
• Document permissions can prevent files from previewing in a course. Users should ensure that permissions are set correctly for a document before sharing it with others in Canvas.
• Google authentication is only managed when adding Google as a third-party authentication service in Canvas. The LTI integration does not support single sign-on authentication.

Canvas Account-Level Features

Authentication

Canvas admins can set up Google as an authentication method so users can sign into Canvas using their Google credentials. However, the LTI integration itself does not support single sign-on (SSO) authentication. After users log in to Canvas using Google, they will also have to authenticate into the Google LTI.

Canvas Course-Level Features

Course Navigation

The Google LTI adds a link to the user’s Google Drive in the Course Navigation Menu. The name of the link aligns with the name added as part of the Google LTI (most commonly Google Drive). Users can authorize the Google Apps LTI to view their Google Drive account. If authorization to Google Drive is not successful the first time, authorize the application again.

After logging in to Google Drive, users can view everything in their My Drive folder. They can also open files in a new browser window and edit files directly.

Notes:

• Items that are in the Shared with Me folder need to be added to the user's My Drive before those items can be viewed in Canvas.
• The Google Drive link does not automatically update content added to a user’s My Drive folder. To view the most recent content, users have to refresh their Google Drive page in Canvas.
• Files are displayed in alphabetical order.

Google Drive Account Changes

Users can only authenticate into one Google Drive account at a time. If users need to authenticate into Google Drive using a different account, users can open the User Settings page, remove the integration, and then authenticate again using the new Google Drive account.

Note: The approved integration shows that the token has a short lifespan, but Canvas gives the app a refresh token that can be used to get new tokens when necessary. Users can still use the integration even if the expiration has passed.

Assignments

Cloud Assignments

Instructors can create an online embedded assignment through an external tool. With the Google Apps external tool, this assignment type creates a view of the assignment file that acts as a template for a student’s assignment submission. Accepted assignment types are Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations.

Notes:

• Peer reviews cannot be used with External Tool assignments.
• Rubrics can be added to external tool assignments, though the rubric must be added to the assignment before the assignment is set as an external tool assignment. Students can view the rubric in the assignment details page (accessed through their Grades page), and instructors can view the rubric in SpeedGrader.

When students open the assignment, Google Drive will create a copy of the file in the student’s Google Drive folder for the course for each student’s submission. Depending on how the document is configured, they may not need to log in. The students can update the document per the assignment instructions and submit it without leaving the page. If students want to view the version of their cloud document submitted for the assignment, they can view the document in the assignment details page.

Instructors view each student’s document copy in SpeedGrader for grading.

File Upload Assignments

Instructors can also continue to create regular file upload assignments. However, when instructor allows file uploads, students can view the Google Drive tab and upload files directly from Google Drive.

Note: When the Google Apps LTI is enabled, this feature no longer requires students to set up Google Drive as a web service. If the web service is still enabled, students will view tabs for both Google Drive and Google Docs.

Assignments in SpeedGrader

SpeedGrader displays any uploaded file type that is supported like other Canvas assignments. Some files cannot be previewed in SpeedGrader and have to be downloaded for viewing. However, SpeedGrader does support previews for native Google file types.

Collaborations

Users can create collaborations with documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.  The creator can add individual users or groups from the course to participate in the collaboration. Collaborators can be added or removed at any time, but once a user is added to the collaboration, the user always has access to the collaboration in the user’s Google Drive folder. Collaborations require a name before they can be saved.

External Collaborations Tool Feature Option

Google Apps complements Canvas with an updated Collaborations page. The page design update is controlled by the External Collaborations Tool feature option, which can be enabled by a Canvas admin and must be enabled in the same location as the Google LTI app (course or account).

• Enabling the External Collaborations Tool feature option removes the links to all existing collaborations and no longer allows users to create collaborations with the existing Google Drive option.
• To implement this feature, admins should set the feature option to allow so instructors can manage any existing collaborations. Instructors who want to retain existing collaborations should not enable the External Collaborations Tool feature option at the course level.

Note: This feature option is not available in the beta environment.

Files

Users can access their Google Drive folder from the Course Navigation Menu. Google Apps does not display a folder directly in a user’s Files page.

Like other uploaded files in Canvas, student submissions are copied to a student’s submissions folder in user files if the file was uploaded using the File Upload or Google Drive upload assignment options. However, cloud assignment submissions are copied into the student’s Google Drive folder.

Modules

Google Apps displays as a Modules external tool. Instructors can add links to Google Drive documents as an external tool.

Rich Content Editor

Google Apps displays a Google Drive icon in the Rich Content Editor. The icon displays everything in a user’s Google Drive account and allows users to display documents as inline links or embed them directly. Students and teachers can view the icon anywhere they can access the Rich Content Editor, such as discussions and pages (as allowed).

If the icon does not display directly in the tool bar, the icon is included in the More External Tools drop-down menu.

Canvas Mobile App Features

The following functionality relates to Google Apps in the Canvas by Instructure app and SpeedGrader app:

Canvas by Instructure

• Authentication through Google is not supported in the Canvas app.
• Collaborations are not supported in the Canvas app.
• Google files can be viewed in a mobile device by downloading the Google Drive mobile app.
• In cloud assignments, the students can view the assignment description but cannot view the cloud assignment. In the submission tab, students can view a link to access the assignment externally, though the link is not currently functional as it cannot connect the student to the student’s Google Drive account for online editing. Instructors who incorporate cloud assignments into their coursework should let students know that cloud assignment are not currently supported in the Canvas app.
• File upload submission types can accept files from the Google Drive mobile app per standard functionality.
• Modules can display external tools set to a Google document if students log in to their accounts.

SpeedGrader

• Cloud assignment submissions do not display in the app.

For any other contrary behaviors in the production environment, users should submit a Canvas support case for assistance.

[lfrazier]

Outstanding integrations! Thanks, Canvas Friends.

Will there be a CanvasLive or webinar on it soon?

[GregoryBeyrer]

Excellent news. The best part to me is the automatic creation of a copy of the file in a student's Google Drive folder and the ability to view those submissions in the SpeedGrader. Will there be a way to connect these to plagiarism detection systems like Turnitin and VeriCite?

[craigring]

This is so exciting and a major step forward! I can't wait to show key staff members on Monday

[itadmin]

Ok, so the technical jargon is right at the ceiling of my abilities with this stuff.

At the school I administer, we use Google as the primary login option and Google Apps extensively. Everyone clicks the Login with Google button on the login page (we also have this enabled on the mobile app thanks to our clever CSM) and they can login that way.

So, if I understand correctly, if I enable the Google LTI for my school, no one can login with Google any more as I'm assuming the Google authentication option and the LTI cannot run alongside each other. Instead we will have to revert to the standard Canvas login functionality, but we then get all the cool new Google integration with the LTI.

Is that correct?

[corey_jeffers]

This is a major upgrade! Thank you! In the K-12 arena the ability to add Google Drive files from the rich text editor and the modules area is incredible.

The cloud assignments is so close to being exactly what so many teachers/students need. Right now it seems to submit the file as a PDF rather than the original Google document. This means a teacher views it through the box.com viewer in Speedgrader. Is there any way for this feature to be configured in a way that allows teachers to actually comment and annotate on the students' work if they use the cloud assignments feature? It would be awesome if this feature enabled the Speedgrader entry to look just like it does when students submit Google Docs through "Website URL."

The collaborations feature is super valuable as well, and being able to add a variety of Google Apps file types is a major improvement. Thank you! For this feature, I'm hoping it will be possible someday to choose a template from a teacher's Google Drive to assign to groups rather than always being a blank document. Still a very valuable update and hopefully getting even closer to something teachers will use very widely.

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Corey,

Yup, I just noticed as well that SpeedGrader is pulling in documents as PDFs and alerted the team. They'll check that out on Monday.

Thanks,

Erin

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Jimmy,

If you've already enabled Google authentication, you're all set.

Erin

[itadmin]

Awesome. So why am I not seeing the Google Drive button on the sidebar, or the Google Drive icon in the Rich Content Editor, or the Google Drive icon in the assignment file upload area? Do I need to turn something else on?

[mburkhart_sales]

Hi Jimmy,

You need both. The clarification is just saying that the authentication is completely separate from the LTI app. You can certainly have both running, but using the LTI does not enable google authentication. You'll need to install this app, but it won't change anything with how you currently have your authentication set up.

Hope that helps!

Marisa

[jacob_standish]

It looks like embedded Presentations cannot display presentation view.  You can see the slides and edit them, but if you click on Present, it just shows a black box where the slides should be.

[hochmucr]

This is great, something my faculty has been asking for. I enabled the LTI for our school, added the necessary authentication information and now the Google Drive appears in the navigation menu. It is also available as an external tool in Modules. But an icon is not showing in the Rich Content editor. What needs to be done to get this to happen?

[lbrizendine]

I can't seem to find the shared shared secret and consumer key to turn on the LTI integration.  I am the admin, what am I missing? 

[corey_jeffers]

You'll need to generate your own. HERE IS THE LINK to generate this information. It comes from the EduAppCenter. I put this in at the sub-account level to test integration at a few schools. It seems to be working for everyone who has tried it so far.

[bcrook]

What an amazing birthday present to find!!  Yes!! 

So I'm immediately jumping online now that I'm home from a trip and getting this rolling.  However, here's the first hiccup.   I set up the LTI as the Admin and I went to Google Drive in a course and authorized the login.  Except it pulled my personal google login, not my school one.  So I've done everything from deleting the LTI in my user settings, logging out and back in, using a different browser to authorize the login, clearing cache, and even deleted the account level LTI app as Admin and added it back in.   Still pulling all of my personal google drive folders and files.   Thoughts?

[grogne]

I'm seeing the same behavior when I embed a presentation.

[corey_jeffers]

There are two behaviors I'm noticing when searching for Google Drive documents in the rich text editor. One is that I cannot find some documents when they are placed into a folder if I use the search function. In the screenshot below, I can find the document using search so long as it is in my main Google Drive directory. However, if I place it into a folder in Google Drive, it no longer appears in the search. The second behavior is that the search does not seem to yield an easily-discernible organization. For example, my most recently created document that I edited most recently is at the bottom of all my search results rather than being near the top. I'm wondering if there is a way to configure this to have most recent near the top of the search results.

[johnpj]

We built a Google Drive integration with out legacy LMS years ago, so it is great to be able to offer this functionality in Canvas now. As few caveats I've hit upon:

• A few times I've received a failed authorization warning when logging is as a student; the initial authorization workflow for students is a bit awkward, sometimes requiring them to authorize multiple times before being able to interact with the Goggle Drive content.
• I couldn't yet get the Collaborations tool to work with Google Drive. I can choose the kind of collaboration (document, spreadsheet, presentations) and select collaborators, but the Submit button remains greyed out. [Edit: I figured out the Collaborations issue: I wasn't seeing the Name field. I refreshed the page, entered a name, and the Submit button was then active.]
• If you configure this at the account level, you will probably want to remove the older Google Docs option in the Collaboration tool and Assignment file upload submission type
• The Drive Cloud Assignments creates a copy of the drive document (doc, sheet, or presentation) for each student assignment attempt. These actually show up in the student's Drive. They can edit them there, but those changes are not reflected in the submission the instructor sees in the Speedgrader. This is probably a good thing, but an opportunity for some confusion.
• The Google Drive link in the navigation doesn't allow you to share specific resources, so you essentially just get an embedded view of your drive folders. This provides a useful shortcut, but I think most instructors would expect that they could share existing content through this link.

I think this is a great first attempt with just a few issues to iron out.

[jthoms]

What a useful addition to the Canvas ecosystem!

I'm curious if we could get a bit more detail on the possibility of the LTI playing well with institutional single sign-on with Google. If it's technically possible, might it be on the roadmap at some point?

Similarly, what are the risks of mixing the Google authentication with single sign-on? I imagine this might allow someone to connect a personal Google account, which could create some access issues.

[kmcgee]

Hey Beth,

We've had some problems with Google remembering any account you may have used with it previously. So try deauthorizing Canvas from your google account. Please let us know if that doesn't work.

Google How to Instructions

[kmcgee]

Thanks  @jthoms ​ for sharing your comment. Nothing on the roadmap at this time to connect the SSO and the LTI app. This integration is a Public Beta, we'll listen to feedback from customers and from there determine if and what we will further develop. Comments and feedback are supper appreciated as that helps up make that call.

[jthoms]

Makes perfect sense! Thanks for the additional info Deactivated user​ :smileygrin:

Perhaps others in the community might weigh in regarding mixing Canvas Google authentication with institutional SSO.

[jjulius]

Very, very nice!

One suggestion: it would be great if the procedure for embedding a Google file (via the rich text editor) gave an option of whether you wanted the embed to include the Google toolbar (as it does now) or if you wanted it to show only the document without any of the Google doc tools.

[bushc]

For cloud assignments, is there any way to add a rubric as well? Normally this would be added by returning to the assignment page after publishing, but that option is not there.

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Chris,

Cloud assignments are created by loading a document through an external tools. In Canvas, all external tools require you to add the rubric before you change the assignment type to an external tool and save the assignment.

Hope that helps!

Erin

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Beth,

Have you tried removing the integration from your user settings page? It shows up in the list of approved integrations. Delete it and then try to authenticate again. The team is working on a ticket to help switching accounts more easily in the future.

Thanks,

Erin

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Jimmy,

Institutions outside the US need to contact their CSM to get the credentials to set up the integration. The link in the EduAppCenter is only for US-based institutions. Your CSM can help you get it ready to go.

Thanks,

Erin

[bushc]

That does help, although it does feel a bit clunky. I saw before that you were passing along the pdf issue. We have been trying some internal testing before passing this along to the rest of our school, and with cloud assignments, I keep getting errors that the file could not be converted and to download it. When I try downloading it, I get an xml error page about a missing key. Could that be connected to the pdf issue?

[jacob_standish]

 @jjulius  this would be perfect! 

It would also remedy the issue with embedded Slides not presenting, which if your are embedding a slide, you will most likely want it in presentation view anyway.

[crosby1]

I have enabled new Google Apps integration via LTI and I see the Google Drive icon on my left hand menu, and I am authenticated, but I do not see the Drive icon in the Rich Content Editor. Is there any step I need to do?

[kona]

Hmm... it showed up automatically for me, nothing extra required.

[Stef_retired]

 @crosby1 ​, it showed up automatically for me as well; I had to click on the dropdown V to find it, and if you have a lot of other integrations already present in the RCE ribbon, you probably will as well.

[dlapetin]

I've learned that only the first two "apps" you add will have icons in the Rich Content Editor... after that, they're available in the "downward triangle" pull-down menu. Are you seeing it there?

[dlapetin]

My teachers are noticing a couple of issues:

- The "open in a new window" feature doesn't work for students, if checked. A new tab opens up, with the spinning wheel, but it doesn't load. (This has been reported to the the development team).

- More significant has been the visibility in SpeedGrader. When trying to view student submissions of documents, our experience varies from "works great!" to "I get the spinning Panda icon only" to "nothing happens". Is anyone else experiencing issues with loading student submissions?

[crosby1]

I found it. Thank you! Now do you know any more about the "Cloud Assignments" that create copies of a Google Doc automatically for students? I couldn't see how to do that right away.

[bushc]

When you create the assignment, the submission type should be external tool and a menu will come up for a cloud assignment. What I found out is that if you want a rubric, you need to create the assignment, attach the rubric, and then edit to create the external tool.

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Maya,

If you're wondering how to create a cloud assignment, that lesson is part of the Google Drive documentation. If you're wondering how to make copies for each student, Canvas does that automatically when students open the assignment.

Hope that helps,

Erin

[kona]

I've only played around with it, but it looks like you need to add the assignment and then for "Assignment Type" pick "External Tool." This should prompt you to then pick something (click the "Find" button) and then you can select "Google Docs Cloud Assignment." From there your Google Drive should show up and you should be able to pick the document you want to use as the Assignment template.

[Anonymous]

The "Open in a new window" feature is the issue I have encountered while testing this out with some teachers.  This feature is vital, as we do not want students to "cover-up" Canvas in order to complete the work using the Google app.  Once this issue is fixed, we might be on our way to something pretty great! 

Any word on whether admins/teachers will need to change any other settings?  "Allow external collaboration tools" or "Disable Google Drive as a Registered Service"??

[Anonymous]

Also, my "Approved Integrations" section shows that my token will expire shortly.  Can I assume that when it does, I will be able to get a new token and then edit the expiration date?