External tools, also known as digital tools, third-party tools, paired content, and LTIs, can be requested for inclusion into the Learning Management System (LMS) to enhance the teaching and learning environment. This includes publishers of etexts and digital assignments and quizzes, collaborative annotation tools, and accessibility checkers.
Tools that use the LTI (Learning Tool Interoperability) standard can be requested to be evaluated for integration with Canvas. If approved, a tool can be installed at the college or institution level. It can usually be added as an external tool in a course Module or Assignment.
External Tool Best Practices
As you consider adopting a new digital tool for your class, have you thought about the pedagogical, ethical/legal, and functional implications? Educational technologies are built around design assumptions about which and how pedagogies work best or support students most.
For example, an anti-plagiarism tool assumes certain things about writing and the teaching of writing and also how citation should or ought to be taught or how ethics might be understood in student writing. An instructor would need to decide if an anti-plagiarism tool matches their approach to writing instruction.
When possible, external tool requests should:
- Be adopted by multiple instructors in multiple courses OR used at the department, college, or institutional level.
- Avoid duplication of functionality with an existing external tool already installed within the LMS.
This will help to minimize the tool fatigue previously expressed by students regarding external tool usage within the learning environment.
Process and Timeline
When an instructor or department requests that a new external tool be evaluated for possible use and inclusion within the Learning Management System, input from the department chair, dean, or supervisor is required to review the request from a departmental perspective. The Departmental Review Form must be submitted as an attachment to the External Tool Request form. Work with your Canvas Coordinator to complete these forms.
Once the completed External Tool Request form is received, the tool must then go through and pass an accessibility, cybersecurity, and legal review before the tool can be approved and installed within the LMS. This entire process can take up to 6-8 weeks for each tool request. Due to the time commitment required for each tool review, the following request dates must be followed for a tool to be considered for inclusion within the LMS.
New Tool Request Deadlines
March 15 – last day to submit a request for the upcoming summer semester
April 15 – last day to submit a request for the upcoming fall semester
October 15 – last day to submit a request for the upcoming spring semester