The problem with adding another tool
Schools already have too many platforms. There is the LMS for course content, the video conferencing tool for lessons, the plagiarism checker, the quiz software, the gradebook. Every new tool means another login, another tab, another place students have to remember to go.
When we built SolversBoard for schools and organisations, the first question teachers asked was: "Can this live inside Canvas?" Not alongside it - inside it.
The answer is yes. SolversBoard supports full LTI integration with Canvas and other Learning Management Systems that implement the Learning Tools Interoperability standard.
What LTI means in practice
LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is an education technology standard that lets external tools launch from inside an LMS as if they are a native part of it. When a teacher sets up a SolversBoard LTI link in their Canvas course, students see it as just another item in the course navigation or module list.
They click it. They land in SolversBoard. They are already logged in - Canvas passes the authentication. No separate account creation, no separate password, no "go to this other website and sign up."
From the student's perspective, SolversBoard is just a feature of their Canvas course. That is exactly how it should feel.
How it works for teachers
Setting up the LTI connection is a one-time process done at the organisation level, not per-class. Your school's Canvas administrator registers SolversBoard as an external tool using our LTI credentials. Once registered:
- Any teacher in the organisation can add SolversBoard to their course as a module item, a navigation link, or an assignment.
- Students who click the link are authenticated automatically via Canvas - their Canvas identity maps to their SolversBoard account.
- The tool knows the course context: which module it was launched from, whether the user is a teacher or student, and which organisation they belong to.
Teachers can share specific sessions or problem sets directly from SolversBoard to their Canvas module. Students do the work with Meg, and teachers can review their sessions via the Session Inspection tools.
Role differentiation
SolversBoard respects the roles Canvas passes through. A student who clicks the LTI link lands in their student workspace - their sessions, their progress, their Meg interactions. A teacher who launches the same link from the same course lands in the teacher view - they can see the class's activity, inspect individual student sessions, and manage the group.
There is no manual role assignment inside SolversBoard. The roles come from Canvas, so teachers do not have to maintain two permission systems.
What data passes between systems
The LTI handshake passes:
- User identity - name and email from Canvas, used to create or match the SolversBoard account
- Course context - which course and module the launch came from
- Role - teacher or student
- Institution - which organisation this belongs to in SolversBoard
No grades are written back to Canvas automatically. SolversBoard is a practice and tutoring environment, not an assessment tool, so we do not push scores into the gradebook. Teachers can export session data and use it however they choose, but the gradebook remains theirs to manage.
What about other LMS platforms?
Canvas is the most common LMS we see in our school and university deployments, but LTI is a standard, not a Canvas-specific feature. If your institution uses Moodle, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, or another LTI-compatible LMS, the same integration applies. The configuration steps differ by platform, but the outcome is the same: SolversBoard launches from inside your LMS with zero friction for students.
Contact us with your LMS platform and we will walk your administrator through the setup.
Getting set up
LTI integration is available on the School/Organisation plan. If your institution is already on that plan, your Canvas administrator can request the LTI credentials from our support team and have the integration live within a day.
If you are evaluating SolversBoard for your school and Canvas integration is a requirement, reach out early in the process - we can run a demo with your Canvas sandbox environment so you can see exactly how it looks before committing.
The goal is simple: students should spend their time learning, not navigating between platforms. If SolversBoard can live inside the environment your school already uses, that is one less reason for students to fall through the cracks.