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Use Microsoft Teams classes with Canvas

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Microsoft Teams classes is a Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) app that helps educators and students easily navigate between their Learning Management System (LMS) and Teams. Users can access their class teams associated with their course directly from within their LMS.

Prerequisites Before Deployment

Note

The current Teams classes LTI only supports syncing Canvas users with Microsoft Entra ID in a limited scope.

  • Your tenant must have a Microsoft Education license (A1 or higher).
  • Only a single Microsoft tenant can be used for mapping users between Canvas and Microsoft.
  • Your tenant must have an exact match between a Canvas field (email, Unique User ID, SIS ID, or Integration ID) and a field in Microsoft Entra ID (User Principal Name (UPN), Primary Email Address (Mail), or Email Alias (mailNickname)).
  • If you use SDS to create classes and groups, we recommend disabling the Team Creation Option in SDS and performing a Group Cleanup to avoid duplication of classes. SDS can still be used to sync organization and user data.

Enable the Microsoft Teams app in Canvas

To begin the integration, you need to enable the app in Canvas by enabling the developer keys, enabling the Microsoft Teams Sync, and approving the Microsoft-Teams-Sync-for-Canvas app. Note that approving the app can only be performed by a Microsoft tenant admin that can approve apps.

To enable Microsoft Teams Sync and approve access for the app:

  1. Sign in to Canvas as an administrator.

  2. Select the Admin link in the global navigation, and then select your account.

  3. In the admin navigation, select the Developer Keys link, and then select the Inherited tab.

  4. Enable the LTI apps you are going to deploy by selecting the ON state for each of the appropriate apps.

  5. In the admin navigation, select the Settings link, and then the Integrations tab.

  6. Enable Microsoft Teams Sync by turning the toggle on. This sync allows classes to be created in Teams based on the enrollment of a course.

    Canvas Teams Sync Updated png.

  7. Fill out the following fields with the appropriate information. These fields will be used for matching users in Canvas with users in Microsoft Entra ID.

    • The Tenant Name is your Microsoft tenant name.

    • The Login Attribute is one of the following Canvas user attributes used for mapping:

      • Email is the Canvas user's default email address. If users change their default email address in Canvas, their enrollment in a course could be blocked from syncing to Teams.
      • Unique User ID is the user's Canvas login ID.
      • SIS User ID is the ID value that is populated from the Student Information System (SIS) and is viewable on the user's profile page.
      • Integration ID is only populated via SIS imports and is viewable on the user's profile page. Typically, this unique identifier is provided by the institution and used in account trusts or consortia situations to identify users across multiple accounts.

    • The Suffix field is optional and lets you specify a domain when there isn't an exact mapping between Canvas attributes and Microsoft Entra fields. For example, if your Canvas email is 'name@example.edu' while the UPN in Microsoft Entra is 'name', you can match users by entering '@example.edu' in the suffix field. The domain should be entered in this field with the preceding @.

    • The Active Directory Lookup Attribute is the field in Microsoft Entra ID to which Canvas attributes are matched. Select in between UPN, primary email address, or the email alias.

  8. Select Update Settings.

  9. To approve access for Canvas’s Microsoft-Teams-Sync-for-Canvas Azure app, select the Grant tenant access link. You'll be redirected to the Microsoft identity platform Admin Consent Endpoint.

    permissions.

    Note

    This step must be performed by a Microsoft tenant admin that can approve apps.

  10. Select Accept.

Integrate Teams classes LTI in Canvas

After enabling the sync and approving the Azure app, the Canvas admin can now add the Teams classes LTI app to the Canvas environment so it will appear in the navigation of the Canvas user interface.

To add the Teams classes LTI app to the Canvas environment:

  1. On the Apps tab in Admin settings, select + App to add the Teams LTI apps.

    external-apps.

  2. For Configuration Type, select By Client ID.

    add app.

  3. For Client ID, enter 170000000000570 for the Microsoft Teams classes LTI, and then select Submit.

  4. In the confirmation that appears, verify the app name (Microsoft Teams classes), and then select Install.

    The Microsoft Teams classes LTI app is now added to the list of external apps.

Enabling the LTI app for Canvas courses

To use the LTI app within a course, an instructor of the Canvas course must enable integrations sync. Each course must be enabled by an instructor for a corresponding team to be created; there is no global mechanism for teams creation. This is designed as a precautionary measure to prevent unwanted teams from being created.

Refer your instructors to the educator documentation for enabling the LTI app for each course and completing the integration setup.