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Add a link to your Canvas course navigation that sends information to an external application

UITS has developed an LTI redirect tool for Canvas capable of passing variables to an external web application. You can use this tool to add a link to the course navigation menu that, when launched, sends information about the current user and course context to the remote application.

To request that such a link be added to your course, or all courses in your college, school, or department, follow the instructions below.

Important:
As an instructor, if you use an application managed by a vendor with whom IU does not have a contract, and it collects protected student data, you may be subject to sanctions, according to university policy Disclosing Institutional Information to Third Parties (DM-02). If your intended use will collect any FERPA-protected data in a third-party tool, do not use it before working through appropriate institutional offices to get a contract with the service. For guidance, see CITL's Use of Cloud Services in Instruction and/or consult your campus teaching and learning center.

Create the URL with variables

Using one or more of the variables listed in the table below, create the URL you wish to send to the external application. For example: 

https://iu.co1.qualtrics.com/aa/?SID=SV_0pN1UpjrrOT9999&SITEID=${SIS_COURSE_ID}&ROLE=${USER_ROLE}
Variable Description
${USER_EID}
Enterprise ID (Network ID username) for the current user
${USER_FIRST_NAME}
First name of the current user
${USER_LAST_NAME} Last name of the current user
${USER_ROLE}
Role of the current user in the current context (course). If the user has multiple roles, the role with the highest privileges is chosen. Only roles that are part of the actual context will be used. If you are an administrative user, that role is not considered.
${SIS_COURSE_ID}
SIS ID for the current course context (e.g., SP15-BL-BUS-T175-26278)
${CLASS_NBR}
SIS section ID for the current course context (e.g., 26278 in the example above)
${SIS_TERM_ID}
SIS designation for the term of the current course (e.g., 4148)
${SIS_CAMPUS}
SIS designation for the campus offering the current course (e.g., IUBLA)
${USER_ID}
Canvas internal ID for the current user
${CANVAS_COURSE_ID}
Canvas internal ID for the current course

Submit a request to have the link added to your site

Once you have created the URL for your link, submit a request to have the IU Redirect tool added to your site or account:

  1. Log into IUware and, at the upper right, click Requests.
  2. Click + New Request.
  3. Fill in the required information:
    • Title & Version: IU Redirect
    • Publisher: Indiana University
    • Needed By: Select an accurate date by which the tool is needed.
    • Available For: Select Cloud.
    • Available Via: Select Canvas.
    • Add a comment: Enter or paste the URL with variables for the link and provide information about the purpose of the link.
  4. Click Submit.

The Canvas administrator will contact you when the link has been added to your course.

This is document bfka in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-10-10 18:28:14.

Contact us

For help or to comment, email the UITS Support Center.