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Canvas LMS Integration with Classe365

Syncing Academics, Enrollments, and Gradebook with Canvas LMS and Classe365

Written by Ashley Cooper

Seamlessly connect your Classe365 Student Information System with Canvas LMS. This guide walks administrators through establishing a secure API connection, mapping academic structures and accounts, and synchronizing terms, courses, student/teacher enrollments, and gradebook scores with minimal manual overhead.

Integration Guide: Step-by-Step Configuration

Prerequisites

  • Administrator access to your institution’s Canvas LMS instance (to generate an Admin Access Token).

  • Super-Admin access to Classe365.

Step 1: Access Canvas LMS Integration in Classe365

  1. Log in to your Classe365 portal as a Super-Admin.

  2. From the main navigation menu, go to Modules > Administration > Integrations > Apps Settings.
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  3. Locate Canvas LMS in the integration directory and click to open the configuration panel.
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Step 2: Establish the Canvas Connection

  1. Canvas URL: Enter your institution’s full Canvas domain URL (e.g., [https://yourinstitution.instructure.com]

  2. Access Token: Paste your Canvas Administrator access token generated from your Canvas account profile settings.

  3. Click Connect (or Save) to verify credentials. A green Connected badge will confirm the link.
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How to obtain Access Token from Canvas?

You can generate a personal Canvas LMS API access token directly from your account settings:

  1. Log in to Canvas and click on Account (your profile icon) in the global navigation menu on the far left.

  2. Select Settings.

  3. Scroll down to the Approved Integrations section.

  4. Click the + New Access Token button.
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  5. Fill in the required fields:

    • Purpose: A label to remind you what this token is used for (e.g., API Testing, Data Export Script).

    • Expires: (Optional) Set an expiration date, or leave it blank if you want the token to remain active indefinitely (unless your institution sets an automatic policy).
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  6. Click Generate Token.

  7. Copy the token immediately from the dialog box. For security reasons, Canvas will never display the full token string again once you navigate away or close the window.
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Step 3: Configure Account Mapping & Gradebook Preferences

  1. Canvas Account: Select your root or target Canvas organization account from the dropdown.

  2. Sync Data Into: Define where Classe365 records should reside inside Canvas:

    • This Account: Syncs directly into the root/selected account.

    • Existing Sub-Account: Select an established sub-account from the dropdown (recommended for organized hierarchy).

    • New Sub-Account: Create a dedicated sub-account directly from this interface.

      • Note: Changing the Canvas URL or account target at a later time will restart the academic sync and unlink existing subjects from Canvas courses.

  3. Gradebook Settings: Check the box for Sync assessment & scores if you want to enable Canvas score synchronization inside each subject’s gradebook in Classe365.
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  4. Click Save & Continue to Sync.

Step 4: Run Data Synchronization

Data synchronization must be performed in a strict sequential order: Academics Data, followed by Students Data, and finally Teachers Data. Because students and faculty cannot be placed into non-existent sections, each step builds directly upon the foundational structure created by the previous one.

Data synchronization processes run in the background. To ensure dependencies are created cleanly, sync in the following order.

1. Academics Data Sync

The Academics sync constructs your organizational hierarchy and course containers inside Canvas.

Important: The integration only syncs enabled Classes/Sections and Subjects. Any class/section, or subject set to disabled/inactive in Classe365 is excluded from the sync.

Execution Steps:

  1. Under the Data Sync dashboard, click Sync Now next to Academics Data.

  2. In the modal, select your scope under Academic Sessions: choose All or choose Particular Academic Sessions to sync specific cohorts.

  3. Under If a matching record is found in Canvas, select:

    • Link with the matching record: Connects to an existing record if it shares the exact name in the target sub-account, avoiding duplication.

    • Create a new record: Generates a separate instance regardless of existing names.
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  4. Click Start Sync.

  5. The sync runs as a background process. Once complete, click View Details to inspect session terms and drill into grade/division subjects to confirm each course was created or linked successfully.
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2. Students Data Sync

Once courses are established, the Students sync populates course enrollments and provisions student identity profiles.

  • Behavior & Account Matching:

    • The system checks whether a user already exists in Canvas using their email address.

    • Existing User: Classe365 links to the existing Canvas user and maps their SIS ID (e.g., classe365_student_<id>), then enrolls them into their respective active subject courses.

    • New User: Canvas provisions a new user profile with their unique SIS ID and automatically enrolls them into all assigned subject courses.

Execution Steps

  1. Click Sync Now next to Students Data.
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  2. While the background process executes, the status badge will update to In Progress. You can click Refresh to poll the latest status or Cancel if adjustments are required.

  3. When finished, the status updates to Completed. Click View Details to audit each student:

    • Displays whether a user was newly created or linked to an existing profile.

    • Lists the exact count of courses each student was enrolled in (e.g., "Linked with existing Canvas user and enrolled in 3 course(s)").

3. Teachers Data Sync

The final structural stage establishes faculty roles and course permissions.

  • Behavior & Role Mapping:

    • Matches teachers by their primary institutional email address.

    • Links existing Canvas accounts or provisions new faculty accounts with their unique Classe365 SIS Teacher IDs.

    • Assigns them the Teacher role within each Canvas course corresponding to their subject assignments in Classe365.

Execution Steps

  1. Click Sync Now next to Teachers Data.
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  2. The process runs asynchronously in the background.

  3. Upon completion, click View Details to review the log:

    • Confirms that faculty profiles have been correctly linked or created.

    • Verifies that teacher-level enrollments are active across their assigned subject courses.

  4. In your Canvas Admin portal, navigating to Admin > Courses will now show each course populated with its designated teacher and enrolled student counts.

4. Assessments & Grades Sync

Once Academics, Students, and Teachers data have been synced, course structures and user rosters exist inside Canvas. The final phase bridges assessments and gradebook scores between the two platforms at the individual subject level.

Step 1: Open the LMS Workspace

  1. Under Data Sync in the Canvas Integration dashboard, locate Assessment & Scores.

  2. Click Open LMS (or navigate directly to your target course via Modules > Learning Management System and choose the relevant subject, e.g., English - Grade 1 Division A).
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Step 2: Access Canvas Sync within the Course

  1. Inside the subject LMS workspace, open the Assessment tab.

  2. Along the top action bar, click the red Canvas Sync button.
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  3. You will be redirected to the course sync management dashboard, which displays:

    • Overview: Confirms the linked Canvas course status (with a quick-access Open in Canvas button in the top right).

    • Sync Students card: Displays total enrolled students in Classe365 vs. Canvas.

    • Link/Copy Assessment card: Shows total assessments in Classe365, Canvas assignments, and how many are currently linked.

    • Sync Assessment Scores card: Shows score synchronization progress.

Step 3: Link or Copy Assessments

Before scores can be pulled, Classe365 needs to know which Canvas assignment corresponds to which Classe365 grade item.

  1. On the Link/Copy Assessment card, click Manage.

  2. Choose how to map your assignments:

    • Link Existing Assessments: If the assessment already exists in both platforms under matching criteria, map the Classe365 assessment directly to its corresponding Canvas assignment.

    • Copy Canvas Assessments: If assignments were authored in Canvas first, select and copy them into Classe365 to auto-create the matching assessment records in the Classe365 gradebook.

  3. Save your mapping configuration. The card status will update from Not Linked to reflect the number of linked items.
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