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LMS integration for instructors

PrairieLearn can connect to Learning Management Systems (LMSes) using LTI 1.3 technology. This allows for assignment linking and grade syncing.

PrairieLearn LTI 1.3 integration is primarily designed and documented for Canvas. Support for other LMS platforms will be coming in the future.

Make sure you have the right permissions

Linking a PrairieLearn course instance with a Canvas course requires the following permissions:

  • Canvas
    • Teacher or Designer
  • PrairieLearn Course
    • Editor
  • PrairieLearn Course Instance

To check this, in PrairieLearn go to the "Staff" tab and make sure that the "Student data access" column has an "Editor" badge for the appropriate course instance, in the row corresponding to your name. If you don't have Student Data Editor permission, add this or ask the course owner to do so.

Setting up your Canvas course for PrairieLearn

The first step is to enable PrairieLearn in your Canvas course. In your Canvas course, go to "Settings" in the left-hand menu, then choose the "Navigation" tab and find PrairieLearn in the list of hidden items. Drag PrairieLearn to the top visible list and click Save. When the page reloads, you should see PrairieLearn in your Canvas course left menu.

Note

If PrairieLearn does not appear under Settings → Navigation in your Canvas course:

  1. Confirm you have a Teacher or Designer role (only these roles can enable navigation items).
  2. Check with a Canvas administrator that the PrairieLearn LTI 1.3 tool has been configured at your institution.
    • If it is already installed, the admin may still need to enable or expose the tool for your sub‑account or specifically for your course so it appears in Navigation.
    • If it has never been installed, a Canvas administrator must coordinate installation with the PrairieLearn team.
  3. After installation/enabling, revisit Settings → Navigation to move PrairieLearn into the active (visible) list and Save.

Canvas administrators who need to configure the integration can contact support@prairielearn.com.

The next step is to set up a connection between the Canvas course and a PrairieLearn course instance. As a Canvas Teacher, click the PrairieLearn left menu link. You will be presented a page to select a course instance to link.

If students click the left menu PrairieLearn link before you have connected a course instance, they will see a 'come back later' message. After a course instance is connected, the link will take them into your course instance.

Canvas courses must be "Published" for certain integration functionality, like grade reporting, to work.

"LMS connections" tab in your PrairieLearn course instance

Use the "LMS connections" tab in your course instance to manage all LMS connections.

Linking assessments

To be able to send grades from PrairieLearn to Canvas, you first need to link the PrairieLearn assessment with a Canvas assignment. There are two ways to do this:

  1. Create a new Canvas assignment for the PrairieLearn assessment. In PrairieLearn, go to your course instance and then the "LMS connections" tab. Click the "Link assignment" button and then the "Create a new assignment" button. This will create a new Canvas assignment and link it to the PrairieLearn assessment.
  2. Link an existing Canvas assignment. If you already have a Canvas assignment that you want to link to a PrairieLearn assessment, there is a multistep procedure:
    1. In PrairieLearn, go to the assessment, then the "Settings" tab, and copy the "Student link".
    2. In Canvas, go to the Assignments page. Next to your assignment click the three-dots menu and select "Edit". Change the "Submission Type" to "External Tool" and set the "External Tool URL" to the student link that you copied above from PrairieLearn. Check "Load This Tool In A New Tab". Save the assignment changes.
    3. In PrairieLearn, go to your course instance and then the "LMS connections" tab. Click the "Link assignment" button and then the "Pick from existing" button. Select the Canvas assignment and click "Link assignment".

Sending grades from PrairieLearn to Canvas

To send grades you first need to link the PrairieLearn assessment with a Canvas assignment, as described above. After doing this, go to your course instance's "LMS connections" tab, and then click "Send grades" for the linked assessment. Grades are always sent as percentage scores out of 100. These are the percentage "Score" values that PrairieLearn shows on the "Gradebook" page and the "Students" tab inside each assessment. Canvas will scale those percentages to the total points configured in the Canvas assignment.

If you receive errors about students not being found in the course, check that your Canvas course is published before sending grades.

Unlinking assessments

You can unlink a single PrairieLearn assessment from Canvas. This can be helpful if you want to link it to a different Canvas assignment. Unlinking does not change any grades in Canvas or PrairieLearn.

To do this, go to your course instance in PrairieLearn, then the "LMS connections" tab. For the assessment you want to unlink, select the dropdown arrow on the right of the "Send grades" button and select "Unlink assignment".

Exporting Canvas-compatible CSV files

If your institution does not use LTI 1.3, or if you prefer to upload grades manually, PrairieLearn can generate CSV files formatted for Canvas's gradebook import. These files include the column headers and "Points Possible" row that Canvas expects.

Canvas CSV exports are available from two places:

  • Gradebook page — export scores for multiple assessments at once.
  • Assessment Downloads page — export scores or points for a single assessment.

Matching PrairieLearn students to Canvas students

By default, the CSV export leaves identity columns (ID, SIS User ID, SIS Login ID, Section) empty. To have Canvas correctly associate rows with students, upload a Canvas gradebook CSV so PrairieLearn can fill in those columns with the values Canvas expects.

How to export a gradebook from Canvas

  1. In your Canvas course, go to Grades.
  2. Click Export (or Export Entire Gradebook) to download the CSV file.

Exporting grades with matched identity values

  1. Open the Canvas CSV export dialog in PrairieLearn (from either the Gradebook page or the Assessment Downloads page).
  2. In the Canvas gradebook import section, upload the CSV file you exported from Canvas.
  3. PrairieLearn will automatically match students and show a summary of how many were matched, ambiguous, and unmatched.
  4. If any students are ambiguous or unmatched, expand the detail sections below the summary to see which students are affected. You will be able to correctly assign the grades during the import step within Canvas.
  5. Click Download to generate the CSV with the matched identity columns.

Note

  • Unmatched PrairieLearn students will appear in the export with empty identity columns.
  • Unmatched Canvas students are not included in the export because no related PrairieLearn student record could be found.
  • Matching is optional — the CSV can be exported without uploading a Canvas gradebook file. In this case, identity columns will be empty.