Body
Many institutions have their own learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Desire2Learn or Canvas. To optimize students' experience, you may create a link from your system to GradeCraft that allows your students to be automatically added to your course site as well as provide students with a seamless single sign-on experience. We can achieve that through LTI integration. With LTI integration, students click on a link in your learning management system and are authenticated to GradeCraft directly without needing a separate password.
For instructors at the University of Michigan, integrating GradeCraft into Canvas gives you all the benefits of using GradeCraft for your assignment manager and gradebook, plus the functionality of using Canvas for quizzes and discussion boards. In addition, student accounts will be added to GradeCraft automatically without needing extra accounts and passwords. All of these are achieved through the LTI integration. All courses at the University of Michigan have LTI integration at no cost.
For courses at UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint, please contact us at
help@gradecraft.com for some initial setup before following this guide.
For courses at UM-Ann Arbor, you are free to proceed to the guide as things are already in place!
For instructors at other institutions, LTI integration is only available with a paid GradeCraft license, providing that your institution permits it. If interested, please explore our licensing options or contact us at help@gradecraft.com and we can help you get started.
If you have questions about linking your Gradecraft course to another LMS, please feel free to contact us at help@gradecraft.com.
To add GradeCraft to your Canvas Site - create an empty course shell
Should you already know which course you want to implement GradeCraft for but have not yet created an incident in GradeCraft. In that case, we encourage you to start by adding an empty GradeCraft course to the Canvas course page as it streamlines the integration process. To do so:
-
Log in to Canvas
-
Select the course you wish to include GradeCraft in.
-
From the left-hand navigation bar in Canvas, click “Settings”
-
Click the “Navigation” tab,
-
Find GradeCraft from the list of possible navigation items (it will be on the bottom half of the page).
-
On the right-hand side, click the Cog drop-down and click “Enable”. GradeCraft will move to the visible items for students (at this point you may wish to drag and drop to reorder them).
-
Once reordered, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the Navigation screen.
For more information, please visit this Canvas guide.
Now you will be able to find GradeCraft from the left-hand navigation. When you click on the link for the first time, GradeCraft will automatically create an empty shell for the course. Now you can start building your course on this page. 
Note: though students have no access to the linked GradeCraft course before it's published, the "GradeCraft" tab will be visible. To avoid it, you may disable GradeCraft by following the same steps after the empty course is created. Then log into GradeCraft at https://gradecraft.com/ to access it on your dashboard.
To link an existing GradeCraft course to Canvas
Wish to explore GradeCraft first and don't have a specific course in mind yet? No problem! You may log in at https://gradecraft.com/ and create a new course there then link it to Canvas later. When you are ready, follow the steps above to create an empty GradeCraft course in Canvas. Then,
In the blank Gradecraft course created in Canvas
- Click on the “Course Settings” link in the left-hand navigation bar, under “Setup”.
- Click the “integrations” tab on that page.
- Copy the LTI ID from the text field. This is the ID used to link a Gradecraft course to that specific Canvas course shell.
- Copy this ID to another place, such as a text document, to make sure you don't lose it.
- After copying the ID, delete the ID from this field.
Note: It is very important to delete the ID from the blank course. Leaving it there may cause many complications in the future.
In the Gradecraft course that you want to link to Canvas
From where you are, navigate to the Gradecraft top-level dashboard by clicking the "G" logo in the upper left-hand corner of the page.
Next:
- Scroll down if needed, then click the “view course” button on the course you want to link to Canvas
- Click on the “Course Settings” link from the left-hand menu in this course.
- Click the “Integrations” tab. You will see an empty field for LTI ID
- Paste the LTI ID that was copied from the empty course into the text box, then click “Save Settings”.
- Confirm in your Canvas course site that your course is properly linked, and then you’re good to go!
Need more help? No worries! Check out the Related Articles on the right or email us at help@gradecraft.com for personal assistance.