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How to integrate Educaplay into Canvas
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What the integration does
Your students play Educaplay games from Canvas, without signing up, and their scores are automatically saved to the gradebook.
Requirements
- An Academic plan or Commercial plan. With lower plans you can try the integration with up to 5 games.
- Being a Canvas administrator (to install it across the whole organization) or a teacher of a course (to install it just in that course).
Your LTI credentials
- In Educaplay, go to Connect.
- Choose LTI 1.3 advantage or LTI 1.1 in the selector on the right.
- Copy the data that appears. You'll need it when registering the tool in Canvas.
With LTI 1.3 you only need the Launch URL. With LTI 1.1 you need the Launch URL, Consumer key and Shared secret.
Where to register Educaplay: account or course
- At account level: the administrator does it once and it becomes available in all courses. Recommended for institutions.
- At course level: a teacher does it in their course. It only affects that course.
The procedure is the same in both cases. Only the entry point changes: Admin → your account → Settings, or Course → Settings.
One Educaplay account per installation
LTI credentials belong to a specific Educaplay account. All the teachers who use that installation see the same games: the ones published in that account.
If each teacher has their own Educaplay account, install one tool per teacher (at account level with distinctive names, or each teacher in their own course).
Registering Educaplay in Canvas
Go to Settings → Apps tab → + App, and choose one of the three options below.
Option A: LTI 1.3 with + LTI Registration
The most convenient one. Only available in Canvas SaaS and recent versions. Requires being an account administrator.
- Admin → your account → Developer Keys → + Developer Key → + LTI Registration.
- Paste the LTI 1.3 advantage Launch URL into the Dynamic Registration URL field and click Continue.
- Accept the default permissions and placements.
- Turn the key on with the toggle and copy the Client ID.
- In Settings → Apps → + App, choose By Client ID, paste the Client ID and submit.
Option B: LTI 1.1 via Edu App Center URL
Useful if you don't have Dynamic Registration in your Canvas.
- In the + App form, type By URL.
- Fill in:
- Name: Educaplay
- Consumer Key: your Educaplay Consumer key
- Shared Secret: your Educaplay Shared secret
- Config URL: https://www.eduappcenter.com/configurations/aekstx7v3v38rb54.xml
- Click Submit.
Option C: LTI 1.1 manual entry
- In the + App form, leave the type as Manual Entry.
- Fill in:
- Name: Educaplay
- Consumer Key: your Consumer key
- Shared Secret: your Shared secret
- Launch URL: your Launch URL
- Privacy: Public (required for grades to arrive with the student's name).
- Click Submit.
Creating an assignment with a game
- In the course, go to Assignments → + Assignment.
- Set a name and points (for example, 10).
- In Submission Type, choose External Tool.
- Click Find, select Educaplay and click Select.
- Choose the game from the Educaplay selector.
- Click Save & Publish.
How the student sees it
They open the assignment and see the game loaded inside Canvas. They click Start and play. They don't need to sign up for Educaplay.
Where the scores are shown
In the course → Grades. Each assignment has its column; each cell shows the student's score.
The games are also recorded in Educaplay's Reports section, where you can check scores, times and, with an Academic plan or Commercial, each player's specific answers too (including those to open questions).
SCORM as an alternative
If you can't use LTI, you can upload a game to Canvas as a SCORM package. Available only in some Canvas editions: Canvas SaaS (Institution and Enterprise) includes it by default, and Canvas Free for Teachers also does in some regions. Self-hosted open source Canvas LMS doesn't include it and requires connecting an external service (typically SCORM Cloud).
The flow: you download the game's SCORM .zip from Educaplay (the Share box → Download, or from My games → Options menu (···) → Download) and upload it in the course from Import → SCORM Package.
LTI is preferable in almost all cases: you don't have to download the package again when a game is updated, files aren't duplicated in the course storage and the games are also recorded in Educaplay's Reports. With SCORM, the games only live inside Canvas: they don't appear in Educaplay's Reports. Use SCORM only when LTI isn't viable or you need the game to travel in a self-contained file.
Frequently asked questions
At what level should I register Educaplay, account level or a specific course?
Account if you want Educaplay to be automatically available in all the organization's courses: the Canvas administrator has to do it and teachers don't have to deal with credentials. Course if you only need it for a specific course or if you're not an administrator, so you set it up yourself from the course options.
Which LTI version should I use, 1.1 or 1.3?
LTI 1.3 if your Canvas supports it (the + LTI Registration button in Developer Keys): registration is automatic in a single step and you don't have to paste credentials. LTI 1.1 is the classic version, it requires copying the Consumer key and Shared secret by hand and is used when your Canvas isn't recent enough or when you register the tool directly in a course. Both versions work equally well for the student and for the gradebook.
Do my students need an Educaplay account?
No. Canvas sends the student's data (name and email) to Educaplay automatically. The student enters the game already identified and their score is linked to their Canvas user.
Can I change the game of an assignment that's already created?
Yes. Edit the assignment, click Find again and choose another game. The scores generated from that moment on will be assigned to the new game.
How do I add several games to the same course?
Create one assignment for each game. Each assignment will have its own column in the gradebook, so you can see each student's performance game by game.
Are the scores saved automatically or do I have to do something?
Yes. When a student finishes the game, Educaplay sends the score to Canvas and it appears in the gradebook within a few seconds. No manual intervention is needed.
Does it work with all types of games?
Any Educaplay game that has a score: Crosswords, Word Searches, Quizzes, Froggy Jumps, Yes or No, Line Up, Memory, Matching, etc.
What happens if a student plays the same assignment several times?
Educaplay sends the score of each game and Canvas saves the last one it receives (it overwrites the previous one). Unlike other LMSs, Canvas doesn't offer "First", "Best" or "Average" options for External Tool type assignments: the visible grade is always the one from the last game. If you want to limit it to a single attempt, in the assignment options set Submission Attempts to 1 (in general, Instructure recommends leaving it at Unlimited for External Tool type assignments and letting the tool manage the attempts).
Can I try the integration with a free account?
Yes. With any plan below Academic, your account can launch up to 5 games through LTI. It's ideal for checking the flow (tool registration, game selection, gradebook) before moving to the Academic plan or the Commercial plan, which don't have that limit.
The + LTI Registration option doesn't appear in Developer Keys, what do I do?
It means your Canvas doesn't support Dynamic Registration LTI 1.3 (that option only appears in Canvas SaaS and in recent versions of Canvas LMS). Use option B (via Edu App Center URL) or option C (Manual Entry). The result for the students is the same.
I've registered Educaplay at account level but it doesn't appear when creating an assignment, what do I do?
It's a Canvas backend caching detail: tools registered at account level sometimes take a moment to appear in the selection box when creating an assignment. Refreshing the course page is usually enough, or creating any other tool to trigger the internal refresh. If you're in a hurry, you can also register the tool at course level temporarily to use it in the meantime.
If Educaplay is installed at account level, does each teacher see their own games?
No. An LTI installation points to a single Educaplay account (the one for the credentials the administrator pasted), so all the teachers who use it will see the same games: the ones published in that account. If each teacher has their own Educaplay account and wants to use their own games, there are two options: each teacher registers Educaplay in their own course with their credentials, or the administrator registers several account-level installations with distinctive names such as Educaplay Teacher A, Educaplay Teacher B, etc.
