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API Primer

Richard
Updated

Introduction

API stands for application programming interface. In the same way a keyboard and mouse provide access to a computer and allows you to do things, an API provides access to another program. An API allows an application to cooperate with another application.

FeedbackFruits has API support for Blackboard, Brightspace, Canvas and Moodle. Through the API we provide integrations we can't deliver through LTI:

  • View the students in a course and import these into assignments automatically

  • View the groups in a course and import these into assignments automatically

  • Sync the deadline of an assignment to the course calendar

  • Send back more grading information

This allows the FeedbackFruits plugins to automatically import student enrollments and group configurations from the LMS. This is particularly helpful for group assignments using our feedback plugins. Furthermore, it allows several groups of students to work in a single multimedia assignment (such as Interactive Document or Interactive Video) without them seeing contributions made by students outside their group. 

In short, the API integration saves teachers a lot of time and energy when setting up assignments.

Security

We take the security of our integrations very seriously and we take all measures we can to avoid breaches:

  • We always try to use the most restrictive access possible to avoid scope breaching

  • We cannot lookup details about courses or users that we don't know the ID of, which we only get when FeedbackFruits is used in a course

For more information about our application's security, see our Security Documentation.

Blackboard

Blackboard is currently in the process of migrating from a SOAP API to a REST API. Since April 2020 FeedbackFruits can be setup using the REST API without the need for the SOAP API, but we will maintain support for the SOAP API as long as it is in use by our customers.

The Blackboard API uses a single service account. This means FeedbackFruits authenticates as a single user on your Blackboard cluster.

Brightspace and Canvas: OAuth 2

Since August 2018 FeedbackFruits supports OAuth 2. This means we have transitioned from having access to the API through a service account to using the access given to us by the teacher of each course. 

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