Using AI With Canvas for Assessment: LTI 1.3, Grade Passback and What to Ask

Six things "integrates with Canvas" can mean#

Vendors use the phrase "integrates with Canvas" for very different arrangements. Before you evaluate a tool, ask which of these it provides.

1. A link. A student clicks a URL in a Canvas page and goes to the tool's own website. The tool does not know the student is in your course unless they sign in separately.
2. An embedded page. The tool appears in a frame inside a Canvas page. It looks integrated and may still require its own login.
3. Single sign-on. The student uses their institutional account and does not create a second one.
4. An LTI launch. Canvas opens the tool and passes it information about who the user is and which course they are in, so the tool can show the right content to the right person.
5. Roster sync. The tool receives the list of students and sections without a spreadsheet.
6. Grade passback. The tool sends scores back to the Canvas gradebook.

A complete assessment integration usually needs launch, roster and grade passback. A link alone leaves an instructor copying scores by hand.

What LTI 1.3 is#

Learning Tools Interoperability is a standard from 1EdTech that defines how a learning platform and an external tool exchange information securely. The 1.3 core specification covers the launch. Three services extend it.

• Deep Linking lets an instructor choose content in the tool and place it in a course as an assignment. The specification is the Deep Linking 2.0 specification.
• Assignment and Grade Services lets the tool create gradebook columns and send scores. The specification is the Assignment and Grade Services 2.0 specification.
• Names and Role Provisioning Services lets the tool read the course roster with roles. The specification is the Names and Role Provisioning Services 2.0 specification.

Many tools implement the launch and only some of the services, so ask about each one.

How it looks to an instructor and a student#

An administrator registers the tool in Canvas once for the institution or account. After that:

1. The instructor adds an assignment in the course and chooses the tool, then selects or creates the activity through deep linking.
2. The student opens the assignment in Canvas, which launches the tool already knowing who they are.
3. The student completes the activity, such as an oral defense or a simulation.
4. The instructor reviews the evidence in the tool and releases a score.
5. The score appears in the Canvas gradebook.

If a step requires a second login, a spreadsheet or copying a link by hand, note it. These are the places where adoption stalls.

Questions to ask a vendor#

1. Is it an LTI 1.3 tool, and which services does it support: deep linking, grade passback and roster sync?
2. Which Canvas environments has it been verified in, and can you see it working in yours?
3. What happens to the grade? Is it sent automatically, or after the instructor releases it?
4. Does practice work stay out of the gradebook?
5. What user information does the tool receive, and what does it store?
6. How do accommodations in Canvas, such as extended time, carry over?
7. Who administers the connection, and how is it revoked?
8. If a student launches from outside Canvas, what happens?

Canvas without LTI#

Not every use case needs LTI. Canvas accepts audio and video media submissions, so a course can run a recorded oral assignment without any external tool. If your goal is a recorded explanation that you will listen to yourself, this may be enough. LTI becomes valuable when you want a tool to run a structured activity, keep a record you can score and return a grade.

Verified versus implemented#

LTI is a standard, and a tool that implements it can still behave differently on different platforms. A vendor's statement that it supports Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle and Brightspace is not the same as having seen a launch work in each. Ask for evidence for the platform you use, and be cautious when a vendor lists many platforms.

Privacy#

An LTI launch passes information about the user. Ask exactly what is passed, how it is stored and for how long. Treat transcripts and recordings as education records. Our guide to AI course assistants and the overview of AI agents discuss related privacy questions, and the platform comparison shows which vendors document which LMS platforms.

Where Rocketproof.ai fits#

Rocketproof.ai is an LTI 1.3 tool with deep linking, grade passback through Assignment and Grade Services and roster sync through Names and Role Provisioning Services. Canvas is the platform verified end to end, from registration through a graded launch. Support for Blackboard, Moodle and D2L Brightspace is implemented on the same standard, and no launch has yet been observed on a vendor test system for those, so talk to us before planning a term around them. Practice attempts stay out of the gradebook and out of grade passback. The LMS integration page has setup details.