In addition to using built-in Canvas features, such as Assignments, Discussions, and Grades, your Canvas courses can connect to external services through an integration called Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI).

For a list of tools available university-wide in Penn Canvas, visit the Canvas Tools page. For additional tools available in individual schools, contact your LSP.

Enabling an Existing Tool

If a tool is supported on Penn Canvas, any instructor can enable it in their own course.

  1. Go to Settings in the course navigation menu.
  2. Click the Navigation tab. On this page, the top group of items includes enabled tools. The bottom group includes tools that are disabled or hidden from student view.
  3. Drag and drop items to reorder them or move them to the opposite group. You can also click the 3 dots, then click Move.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save.
  5. Click Home or any other item in the left side menu to see your updated changes.
course settings navigation tab

Tools you do not plan to use should be hidden from the menu. This makes your Canvas course easier for students to navigate.

You may need to take additional steps to configure the LTI connection to your Canvas course. Use the Tools menu above to locate additional information about a specific tool.

Requesting a New Tool

Contact the Couseware Advisory member for your school and work with them to complete our LTI Request Form.

Please note that the installation of new tools will happen prior to the start of terms (unless there is an urgent need) to minimize disruption to users.

There is a four-week moratorium on installations beginning two weeks prior to the first day of classes every fall and spring semester.

Considerations for tool approval

  • FERPA/Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Data security
  • Cost
  • Level of installation (some tools can only be installed system-wide, while others can be installed at the school or course level)
  • Copyright/ownership of content and how content may be used by the vendor
  • Terms of Service/Licence Agreements (which may be between an institution and the vendor or between individual users and the vendor)
  • Who will provide support for the tool if issues arise (ex: the vendor, Local Support Providers (LSPs), etc.

Approval process

Prior to the installation of any third-party tool, Penn completes a security and privacy review called a Vendor Security Technical Assessment of Risk (VSTAR) to evaluate compliance with Penn policies and applicable laws.

We also request that vendors complete a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) so we can review tools for accessibility compliance.

We do not recommend that students build LTI applications as part of a course project with the intention of installing them on Penn Canvas. Homegrown applications are subject to the same vetting process as vendor applications. This process can take several months and there is no guarantee of approval.

If you have any questions regarding the LTI tool approval process, please contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.