Configuring Pivot Interactives with your Canvas Installation

Add Pivot Interactives to Canvas so that teachers can add the Pivot Interactives app to their Canvas courses

Trevor Register avatar
Written by Trevor Register
Updated over a week ago

Step 1: Adding Pivot Interactives to your Canvas Installation

This is the first step in adding Pivot Interactives to a Canvas installation. This step must be done by a Canvas administrator.

Install Pivot Interactives to Canvas

  1. Log into Canvas as an administrator.

  2. Click the Admin tab on the right, and scroll down to click Developer Keys

  3. Click +Developer Key and add and LTI key

  4. Enter Pivot Interactives as the name.

  5. In the Redirect URIs field, enter: https://api.pivotinteractives.com/api/v2/lti/launch

  6. Click Method and select Paste JSON

  7. Right click the Pivot Interactives Configuration JSON link below and select Save Link As. Save the file where you can easily find it.

    Pivot Interactives Configuration JSON

  8. Copy the text in the configuration file you just saved.

  9. In the LTI 1.3 Configuration field, paste what you just copied the text box, and then click the Save and Customize button. Note: the entry field in Canvas has curly braces. Replace those empty braces with the text you copied.

  10. (Optional) Set Privacy level to public if it is an option. This allows teachers to identify students in Pivot when they grade assignments. It may not be configurable in your Canvas installation.

  11. Review the configuration for Pivot Interactives within Canvas and then click the Save button when you are done.

  12. Find the key that was just created, and change its state to On.

  13. Copy the 14-20 digit number in the Details column. This is the Client ID. You will need this for the next section. Do not copy the longer alphanumeric key that appears when clicking the View Key button.

The configuration file you downloaded is no longer needed, so feel free to delete it.

Deploy Pivot Interactives to Canvas Courses

This will deploy Pivot Interactives to all Canvas courses, which we recommend for the following reasons:

  1. Pivot Interactives will not appear on any teacher's sidebar, so no additional clutter for teachers or students not using Pivot Interactives.

  2. There is absolutely no way for teachers or students in classes not using Pivot Interactives to "stumble" into increasing your school's usage.

  3. Pivot Interactives only appears in Canvas as an External Tool for a Canvas assignment's Submission Type.

  4. Deploying to individual courses requires extra setup from instructors for all of their courses using Pivot Interactives. They'll need to do this any time they use a new Canvas course as well for future terms/semesters.

If you still wish to deploy to only specific courses, see the bottom of this help article.

  1. Click Admin

  2. Click Settings

  3. Click Apps

  4. Click View App Configurations

  5. Click +App

  6. Select By Client ID in the Configuration Type field

  7. Paste in the Client ID from the last step (4) in the previous section.

  8. Click the Submit button and, when prompted, the Install button.

You'll also need the Deployment ID for the next section

  1. Click the gear icon across from the Pivot Interactives app

  2. Click Deployment ID

  3. Copy this ID

Step 2: Connecting your Canvas Installation to Pivot Interactives

Pivot Interactives is now added to your institution's Canvas installation. The next step is to connect your Canvas installation to Pivot Interactives. This step can be done by either one of your school's Pivot Interactives License Administrators or by the Pivot Interactives support team.

If you're a Canvas Administrator and do not want or need to have a Pivot Interactives account, you can instead email the following information to support@pivotinteractives.com:

  • Client ID

  • Deployment ID

  • Canvas domain

We will complete the installation for you. If this request is received during our business hours of 8am-5pm eastern time, Monday through Friday, we can usually complete this by the end of the day.

  1. Log into Pivot Interactives.

  2. Click Account

  3. Click Manage License

  4. Click the LTI tab

  5. Click Canvas

  6. Enter the Client ID, Deployment ID, and your school's Canvas domain (typically something like school-name.instructure.com .

  7. Click Save to add your Canvas installation to Pivot Interactives.

Teachers are now to begin using Pivot Interactives and Canvas together. Next steps:

Connecting Pivot Interactives to a Specific Canvas Course.

This step is an alternative to installing Pivot Interactives to all Canvas courses. This step can be done by an instructor. You will need the Client ID from your school's Canvas Administrator to complete these steps.

  1. Log into Canvas as an instructor for the course to which you want to add Pivot Interactives

  2. Scroll down to the Settings menu under the course menu.

  3. In the Apps tab, click View App Configurations

  4. Click the +App button.

  5. Select By Client ID in the Configuration Type field.

  6. Copy and paste the 14-20 digit number from Part 1 into the Client ID field.

  7. Click the Submit button and, when prompted, the Install button.

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