New Features in Google Assignments LTI 1.3

[jess_williams]

Google Assignments LTI is an integrated application that gives educators who use Canvas a faster, simpler way to distribute, analyze, and grade student work. This is a replacement for legacy Google Apps LTI integration built by and officially supported by Google.

Benefits of Google Assignments LTI 1.3

• Streamlines assignment distribution
• Grade with Canvas SpeedGrader or Google Assignments
• Ensure visibility on assignment progress
• Guide critical thinking and academic integrity with originality reports
• Ensure educators and students only use school-issued accounts
• Officially supported by Google

Support for SpeedGrader

Google now has support for SpeedGrader, so instructors can choose to grade with either Canvas SpeedGrader or Google Assignments.

• Canvas SpeedGrader - Give feedback with video and audio comments and all the capabilities of Speedgrader to do final grading after submission.
• Google Assignments - Grade student work in Google editors like Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites and Google's grading interface.

Canvas Collaborations

Support for Canvas Collaborations is expected in 2023 (more to come on timing). This is the last feature needed to reach parity with the legacy Google Apps LTI integration. For now, you can deploy Google Assignments LTI for everything but Collaborations and Google Apps LTI just for Collaborations.

How to Get Started

Ask your Canvas admin to turn on Google Assignments LTI in your Developer Keys. It will then be added as an LTI app to your courses.

If you need Canvas Collaborations, the work around for this year is to deploy Google Assignments LTI for everything but Collaborations and hide the other "placements" of Google Apps LTI.

For more details, see Google’s FAQ in Help Center. 

Watch an overview from InstructureCon about Google Assignments LTI. 

[dbrace]

This is also from Google in their Workspace Blog.

"Choose to grade with Canvas SpeedGrader or Google Assignments"

https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2022/08/canvas-speed-grader.html

[audra_agnelly]

With Collaborations support not expected until sometime in 2023, is it safe to assume that Google Cloud Assignments (legacy) will remain available in Canvas through the duration of the 2022-23 school year? Once Collaboration support is complete, what is the expected window of overlap to allow teachers to transition course materials from the legacy LTI? 

[jess_williams]

@audra_agnelly Yes, the legacy app will remain available for the 2022-23 school year. Once a release date for Collaboration support is announced, we'll give users plenty of time to migrate before we deprecate the legacy app.

[audra_agnelly]

Thanks @jess_williams . Another question: will there be any work to support the 'assign to' designations in the Canvas assignment settings? Currently, when a teacher tries to differentiate an assignment by assigning it to a specific section or to specific students, the Google LTI still creates a copy of the assignment document in every student's google drive. In the Google Assignments screen the entire roster is listed including the students excluded in the assign to settings. This is confusing to the teacher if they go into the grading interface and confusing to the students when they go into their Google Drives.

[jess_williams]

@audra_agnelly There isn't any work planned for that at the moment, but I passed this on to both the Google and Canvas teams.

[Michellek]

We are experiencing the issue that assignments that had used the Google LTI (not 1.3 and not Cloud), all have to be re-added from the External Tool Submission area in the Assignment settings. 

The only way we have found is to go to assignments index page and then click the tricolon menu and Edit, Edit Options. From there we can re-add the external tool google 1.3 and file.

Did we miss a step in the setup? 

[RussellCGPS]

Is two-way student management apart of the new updates? For example, if a course is reused and cross-listed and old students de-cross-listed, the correct students always show up in the Google Assignment?

[EvanHoudieshell]

Have anyone encountered issues of grades not moving over to the Grades when choosing to stay Google Assignments (vs moving over when selecting SpeedGrader)?

I have a staff member who is a frequent user of the Assignments LTI and prefers to use the Google Assignments support, but unlike in previous LTIs, her grades do not move over to Grades unless she chooses Speedgrader.

Any thoughts?

[knoxd]

@EvanHoudieshell Is your staff member returning the scores inside of the Google Assignment window?  Scores don't move over until they're "returned".  Or is this a new problem since the introduction of the two options?

[Hildi_Pardo]

Google Assignments LTI is still VERY clunky.   Google folks -- PLEASE do more usability testing with teachers and students in K-8.   And with students on iPads.

And I +1 to audra_agnelly comment about the Assign To issue.   The documents get shared to the WHOLE class even if you only assign the assignment to one section (one period).  

Also, very confusing for students with executive functioning challenges to manage when new copies are made each time they submit and get sent back.  

Please make it easier to manage long term writing assignments.

[MaggieBuckley]

If we want to copy/import assignments into another course (for example, when we close our current year courses and copy to next year), do we have to re-add every assignment that used Google Assignments LTI? That might be a deal breaker with our staff and we want to advise them immediately so they can decide whether or not to utilize Google LTI. We are new Canvas users this year and were previously only using Google Classroom. So this is pretty important for our staff.

Thanks for any feedback anyone has! I can't find any info on this topic . . . 

[Hildi_Pardo]

This issue needs to be fixed as well:  https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Google-Drive-LTI-1-3-Sharing-Outside-the-Do...

Many K12 Districts do not allow sharing outside the domain.  So this feature does not work for us, as is.  The original tool allowed sharing within our district.  But this tool makes it Public.

[dbrace]

@jess_williams, was there an update pushed out for this? I'm asking because there was an email notification and I'm not sure if there were any changes.

[KristinL]

Hi @dbrace - The Community Team is sprucing up some pages, and part of that process it to identify labels and make sure they are accurately placed on Product Blogs. This one was revisited today!

[ErinZito]

Is there a timeline if/when Google Apps LTI (Legacy) will no longer be supported?

[karalaird]

@Michellek - we are experiencing the same thing. Once you remove the old Google Docs Cloud Assignments external tool, any assignment that used this can no longer be opened unless you follow the steps you mentioned.

This will be tedious work for instructors to complete. 

[nwilson7]

@KristinL  & @jess_williams It looks like the person that posted this may no longer be connected to the community (going based off "alumni") so I tagged you Kristin.  Are there any updates to whether it is safe to turn off 1.1 yet?  I tested in our test environment and it appears that 1.3 may now be powering collaborations (we were still able to create and use them when I deleted 1.1) but I worry about the issue @karalaird mentions with instructors that initially created an assignment in 1.1.  We have had 1.3 on for a couple years now so hoping that number is small but do not want to create any issues for faculty if they have copied past courses or need access to an old student submission.

Thanks,

Nick

[EdCasey]

It would also be great to allow view access by Observers.  We have many parents and even support staff that need/require this access in order to assist students.  Support staff can't be Teachers/TA's because they should not be able to view or edit grades of students other than the ones they work with daily.

Not being able to allow view access is a huge drawback.

Thank you.

Ed

[MisterPerkins]

Why is there no API documentation (with examples) on how to create an assignment with Google LTI?  It's relatively easy to create an assignment, but connecting it to an external_tool like Google apparently requires one to be practiced in the art of voodoo.