Current and future state of New Quizzes integration with third party vendors

SuSorensen · ‎08-31-2021

Instructure is proud of our partnerships and ability to work with other third party vendors so that you have access to a wide variety of tools. New Quizzes strives for that same standard — however, in its current state, the only Instructure supported third party proctoring tool is Respondus Lockdown Browser. Of course, we have plans to expand third party usage. This post outlines the current state, why we support what we do now, and what to expect in the not too distant future.

There are several ways in which third party tools may interact with Canvas. Some use browser extensions, Learning Technology Interoperability framework (LTI), and/or Application Performance Interface (APIs). In our efforts to keep Canvas open and extensible, we’ve taken all options into consideration in regards to connection with third party tools.

Canvas has a long standing history of working with Respondus. In the very early days they acted as a true partner and worked with us closely to add native Canvas functionality to support Respondus Lockdown Browser in Classic Quizzes. During the start of the pandemic, we knew we needed to support remote proctoring. We have a well established and trusting relationship and they are the most widely used by customers. To support your urgent need, we again built a native integration with Respondus Lockdown Browser. This is not the way most third party solutions work.

We are in the discovery phase for making our existing APIs publicly available. When this happens, third party tools will be able to use our API to exchange information with their tools. Until that point, we cannot confirm that any other third party proctoring tool can communicate with New Quizzes.

We recognize that these tools provide important functionality that enables you to do the very important work you do! We’re still awaiting feedback from vendors about which data points are most critical to ensure a successful transition and integration to best support you. Our plan is taking shape and we’ll be able to share more of our ideas to get your feedback in the coming weeks.

christopher_phi · ‎09-01-2021

First off, thank you @SuSorensen for your work on New Quizzes and the updates here in the Product Blog - they are very much appreciated! This is great to hear about he plans to provide better 3rd party support.

In the early days of New Quizzes, decisions were made by the product managers at the time to develop New Quizzes as a separate LTI tool instead of as part of Canvas core. At the time, some helpful rationale was shared around that decision and how it would help to push the LTI standard and what could be done using LTI.

We are now a few years down that road and it seems like a number of the ongoing, outstanding issues (integration with 3rd party vendors, API access, Blueprint courses) are a result of that early decision to develop New Quizzes as an LTI tool. Beyond that, my understanding that New Quizzes now lives in a space somewhere in between core and an LTI tool.

My question is around the rationale for continuing to develop the tool outside of Canvas core and if there are any plans on the long-term roadmap to change that direction. Specifically, What value comes from building it as an LTI in relation to the challenges of doing so.

I recognize we may be too far down the road to reconsider the initial direction of developing it as a separate tool, but are there any considerations towards bridging that gap such that it could function more like a Canvas core product in lieu of so much development that seems to be going into making it act as if it were a Canvas core product?

Perhaps there are advantages to Canvas for keeping it as a separate LTI, but it would be great to understand what the benefits of doing so are for us as customers.

Thank you so much!

sharris · ‎09-07-2021

@SuSorensen - The issue isn't "how" will Canvas New Quizzes support third-party tools, but "when" exactly will that happen ? As I'm sure you've heard, the current status of New Quizzes (specifically what it doesn't do) seems to be completely divorced from the EOL timeline Canvas has published for classic quizzes.

If third-party tools (we use Proctorio) are not supported and available by mid-fall, how do you expect clients to have time to make this transition ?

We've mapped out the transition on our end, and expect (with human capital limitations and expected volume of work) that it will take 32 weeks, at minimum (we work on 8 week terms) to fully transition from Classic to New.

Our biggest hold-up are the full migration tools and the availability of Proctorio. When exactly will those items be available ? Nobody seems to be able to provide specific dates, details, which makes it impossible to plan what will amount to the largest system transition we've had to complete since moving to Canvas in 2014.

snugent · ‎09-08-2021

My biggest concern with third party tools is Respondus, the desktop software for creating quizzes and publishing to Canvas. Are you working with Respondus to make this integration work? This is very important to our faculty.

ebloomfield · ‎12-15-2021

What is the status of publisher test bank conversions from Classic to New Quizzes?

judy_harmon · ‎01-23-2022

As we continue to introduce New Quizzes to our faculty, the ongoing question is about integration with other providers with publisher question banks. After going through a lot of research in multiple Canvas resources and communities, I've yet to find what the status is for publisher test banks being converted from Classic to New Quizzes. It was a question posted here on Dec 15, 2021 but hasn't yet been answered. Thanks for any help.

SuSorensen · ‎01-24-2022

Hello @ebloomfield and @judy_harmon - the conversion of question banks to item banks is available in beta. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Releases/Beta-Release-Notes-New-Quizzes-Migration-2021-12-... will walk through the process. Sorry for the late reply!

SuSorensen · ‎01-24-2022

Here is the roadmap for the New Quizzes API, please note that the initial version will be available via a closed beta program, so that everything is well tuned when the casual user makes requests.
New Quizzes API: Planned Roadmap