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Overview of Starfish Interaction withCanvas
Last updated: August 26, 2016
Overview of Starfish Interaction with Canvas
© 2016 Hobsons, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential
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OverviewStarfish Retention Solutions believes in minimizing the extra work instructors, advisors and students need to do to improve student success at their institution. For this reason, Starfish® software interfaces with the existing technology systems on an institution’s campus to create a seamless experience and eliminate redundant data entry.
This overview describes how Starfish interfaces with Canvas.
Overview of Starfish Interaction with Canvas
© 2016 Hobsons, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential
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Integrated User ExperienceStarfish is accessible by the user via LTI, providing a user experience with Starfish without the user having to leave Canvas.
Technical Summary:
Starfish utilizes the IMS LTI standard technology which can be added at the account or course level, allowing a single-sign-in capability for Canvas users to access Starfish.
Overview of Starfish Interaction with Canvas
© 2016 Hobsons, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential
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Single Sign OnUsers may securely access Starfish from Canvas without having to log in again. Whenever a user clicks on a Starfish-related link in Canvas, a Web request is securely sent to Starfish allowing the current user access to Starfish.
Technical Summary:
The LTI tool can be installed so that whenever a user clicks on the link to Starfish, the user is signed into Starfish securely using the OAuth security mechanism. The portlet provides “federated single-sign-on” into Starfish directly from Canvas. To state explicitly, no Canvas passwords are ever sent to Starfish.
Overview of Starfish Interaction with Canvas
© 2016 Hobsons, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential
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Automated Data PopulationWhen implementing the Canvas integration, tenant administrators will specify which course sections in Starfish should be queried in Canvas when importing grade and activity data.
Student Grade and Activity Data PopulationStarfish is populated with the course access and gradebook activity for all course sections specified as part of the Canvas data integration. These grades provide instructors and advisors part of a holistic view of the student. This data is then available to automatically raise flags on students.
Technical Summary:
All automated data population from Canvas to Starfish follows the same process regardless of the data being sent.
Starting the Process. The Canvas data integration utilizes a “data pump.” The data pump is Java code making calls to the Canvas API. The data pump can be set to pump data at a scheduled time specified in Starfish’s administrative tab.
Incremental Processing. The data pump reads changes within the Canvas database since the last “synchronization point.” Typically, the system runs successfully every day and there is a new synchronization point every day.
Robust Protocols. Several precautions are taken to ensure that the data is processed efficiently and securely. All data is sent via secure HTTP to ensure the privacy of student records. The data to be sent is broken into 5M increments to prevent timeouts or other data transmission errors. The data pump contains a remote locking capability to prevent more than one server in a load-balanced configuration from sending the data.
Detecting Deletes. Most course management systems do not record what gradebook and activity data is deleted from the database. The items are just removed. Therefore, Starfish keeps an index file on the institution’s local server of every user key, course section key and enrollment key that has been previously sent. Each time data is transferred, any missing data is detected, automatically updating the Starfish database.
Overview of Starfish Interaction with Canvas
© 2016 Hobsons, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential
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API CallsCanvas API CallsAll Canvas data is retrieved via API calls. The Starfish data pump makes API calls for the following information:
l Course Access: When students and instructors last accessed the course section.
l Outcome Definitions: Gradebook items such as assignments.
l Outcomes: Grade data for the assignments.
Overview of Starfish Interaction with Canvas
© 2016 Hobsons, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential
Page 7 of 7
Document Version HistoryVersion Description of Updates Date of Update
6.4 Document Created 8/26/2016