Google Assignments Integration

Chris Hanson

Has anyone successfully set up the LTI integration with Google Assignments? What is your feedback compared to using Google Classroom as a separate experience with Blackbaud? Is there grade pass back or is this all handled through BB grade book with the workflow handled through Google? Not a lot of info out there so I appreciate any insights.

Ravendra Persaud

@Chris Hanson
Hello Chris,

I set this up this year and teachers have liked it so far. We did it as a means to centralize use in the Blackbaud LMS. I find it to be a more seamless experience and it seems to make the teacher's life easier because they don't have to set up a class themselves. There is grade pass back from Google Assignments to Blackbaud, not the other way around. It also translates proportionally, so if you give 100/100 in Google Assignments it translate back to Blackbaud as 5/5 if your point value for the assignment was 5. You can also just change the scale in Google Assignments to match before you start grading. One complexity is comments. You just need to be clear with students where they should look for overall feedback, BB or Google.

There is a bit more detail in the BB Knowledgebase here:

Hope that helps!

Best,

Ravi

Michelle Kramer

@Ravendra Persaud our teachers really wanted to use the template option with the google assignments and I know that in the past this wasn't working. Is is working now?

Brian Gray

@Michelle Kramer - the template feature is the part that our teachers want too.

Blackbaud is working on upgrading the LTI integration to version 1.3. When I talked with a previous project manager about it a year (or more) ago, he said that the change to v1.3 may enable the template feature. I haven't heard anything more definite recently

My understanding is that v1.3 is almost ready for an early adopter release. You can ask Michael Morrissette to be added to that EAP.

Susan Hemingway

@Chris Hanson I am also very interested in any feedback from Blackbaud users who have set up the LTI to Google Assignments.

Rachel Lebwohl

We set up a pilot of the Google Assignments LTI, and both our students and teachers RESOUNDINGLY rejected it because it did not have a template feature. It is also frustrating that the due date and description do not flow across from the Blackbaud assignment to the Google Assignment.

I am looking forward to hearing when these features will be implemented/fixed!

Michael Morrissette

Hey Folks -

Just wanted to comment on this as we're actively looking into our Google Assignment LTI connection now. I can't make any promises around which fields will or will not sync currently, but I do know that this feature is important to a lot of our schools.

We are in the process of upgrading to LTI's new authentication method, LTI 1.3, and have recently made some good strides in obtaining certification from 1EdTech. This connection type is currently undergoing an Early Adopter Program (EAP) and is not yet ready for a release to our greater school base. We also still have a little ways to go before we're able to allow for Assignment and Grade passback and the ability to deeply embed LTI tools via the 1.3 framework. We'll continue to communicate updates on these features in things like our Product Briefings so keep a look out these for more updates on our progress!

With that said, the Google Assignment LTI 1.1 connection will continue to function as it does today. We're also looking into whether or not we can augment that connection to better utilize some of the feature. We're still in an early exploratory phase, so can't comment on what else we're able to leverage, but as we make progress we'll communicate through the Product Briefings linked above, or our What's New release notes.

Thank you all for bubbling up this feature request as it helps us to better set our priorities! If you ever want to chat about the LMS as a whole, feel free to reach out to me at michael.morrissette@blackbaud.com and we'll see if we can schedule a time to chat!

Rachel Lebwohl

@Michael Morrissette, thank you for your update. If we could wish for ONE THING to be integrated into the 1.1 version while we wait for 1.3, it would be the template – so that each student can have their own Google Assignments copy of the materials posted in Blackbaud. Thank you for doing your best to make that happen!

Lauren Marcus Eisenberg

@Michael Morrissette Hey Mike - any update on this project? We are quite eager to see progress as we are limping along at this time.

Nick Marchese

@Lauren Marcus Eisenberg
Replying as well because following closely. Maybe we can hope for good news at the Product Briefing on April 25?!?!

Lauren Marcus Eisenberg

@Nick Marchese Sadly, no good news on this front today. Sigh.?

Nick Marchese

@Lauren Marcus Eisenberg That is true. I was encouraging with the LTI 1.3 announcement, but I was chatting with @Michael Morrissette who shared with me that Google is not yet allowing LTI 1.3 connections, which is the real hold up.

Rachel Lebwohl

@Michael Morrissette, will the specific feature of allow each student to receive their own copy of the assignment (via Google Assignments) be ready for the 2023-24 academic year?