Canvas (LTI)

RavenGrader installs into Canvas as an LTI 1.3 tool. Students submit in Canvas, you grade in RavenGrader without leaving the LMS, and grades post back to the gradebook.

Who does what

  • A Canvas administrator installs the tool once for the account or sub-account. Instructors cannot self-install LTI 1.3 tools. This is a Canvas restriction, not ours.
  • Instructors then add RavenGrader assignments to their own courses, with no further admin involvement.
If you are an instructor whose institution has not installed RavenGrader yet, contact us and we will work with your Canvas admin or LMS team directly. Institutions usually want a security review first. We keep a HECVAT, a VPAT, and a FERPA data-processing addendum ready to send.

Installation (Canvas admin)

RavenGrader supports dynamic registration, which is the short path: paste one URL into Canvas and the tool configures itself. Ask us for your registration URL. It is issued per institution so launches can be tied to the right tenant.

Configuring by hand instead

If your institution prefers manual configuration, these are the endpoints Canvas needs. Substitute your RavenGrader backend host:

  • OIDC login / initiation URL: /lti/login
  • Redirect / target link URI: /lti/launch
  • Public JWK set URL: /lti/jwks
  • Deep linking response URL: /lti/deep-link/response

Required Canvas placements: assignment selection (so instructors can create RavenGrader assignments) and link selection. The tool needs the standard LTI 1.3 scopes for Assignment and Grade Services so it can write scores back, and Names and Role Provisioning so it can identify instructors versus students on launch.

Once installed, Canvas hands us a client ID and deployment ID and the connection is live. We will confirm the registration with you before anyone launches.

Creating an assignment (instructor)

  1. In your Canvas course, create an assignment.
  2. For submission type, choose External Tool and select RavenGrader. Canvas opens RavenGrader so you can set the assignment up without leaving the page.
  3. Upload your answer key and let the rubric generate. Review and edit it. Same advice as anywhere else: the rubric is the specification for the whole class.
  4. Save, then publish the Canvas assignment as usual.

Answer keys can be images, PDFs, or Word documents. Word files are converted on upload.

Grading Canvas submissions

Students submit in Canvas. Launch the assignment from Canvas as an instructor and you get the RavenGrader grading view: submissions, transcriptions, per-question scores, and the same reviewing and editing described in Grading.

Class analytics and grade curves are available inside the Canvas-embedded view too, so you do not have to switch contexts to see how a question went.

Releasing grades

Grades are not written to Canvas automatically as they are produced. You review, approve, then release grades deliberately, at which point scores post to the Canvas gradebook.

The extra step is the point: an approved grade is one you have looked at, and a released grade is one you have decided the class should see. Those are different decisions, and students see nothing until the second one.

Assignments can be closed to stop further submissions, and reopened if you need to accept a late one.

What students see

Students launch the same assignment from Canvas and see their own submission and, once grades are released, their per-question feedback. They see only their own work. Students do not create RavenGrader accounts; their Canvas identity is the login.

Billing on Canvas

Institution-provisioned Canvas use is covered by the institution’s agreement and does not consume personal page credits. If you also grade outside Canvas with a personal account, that work uses credits normally. See FAQ.

Troubleshooting

  • “Not ready” on launch: the assignment exists but has no approved rubric yet. Launch as an instructor and finish the setup.
  • A student sees no submission: confirm they submitted in Canvas and that the assignment is published.
  • Grades are not in the gradebook: check the grades have been released, not merely approved. These are separate steps.
  • Deep-link selection fails: usually a browser blocking third-party cookies in the Canvas iframe. Opening the tool in a new tab is the quickest workaround while your admin checks the registration.

Still stuck? Email williamtjandra@ravengrader.com with your institution, course, and what you were doing.