SafeExamBrowser
SEB Support for Canvas
My School recently switched to Canvas for our LMS needs, however we have found that the platform is woefully inadequate for our exam proctoring needs. We have been using SEB in conjunction with Moodle for a few years now and it worked well due to its seamless integration with that platform. However Canvas does not have a add on for SEB, when we contacted them requesting it, they told us to contact SEB directly and provided us with this as a solution,essentially a web based solution. What we are interested in is the ability to run our assessments on canvas while using your platform in a similar manner or even using in as a web based solution.
Hi,
We have received requests in the past to support Canvas and also have been in discussions with Canvas/Instructure itself. The problem is, that we are generally not implementing LMS support/integrations for SEB ourselves. That would be out of scope, especially because SEB supports a variety of learning management and exam solutions. Also we are no web or in this case Canvas add-on developers. We expect the provider of an LMS to implement SEB support themselves or with the help of their users/community. As SEB is a non-commercial, freeware solution, it's the users of a particular LMS profiting most by having a free lock down browser solution available.
For existing integrations in Moodle, Open edX, OpenOLAT, ILIAS, usually the user community or main provider of these solutions contributed either development or funding to develop the integration. In the case of commercial exam solutions like Inspera Assessment, Dugga, Exam.net, Swiss Learning Hub, Integrity Advocate, EvaSys etc., the involved companies implemented integrated support for SEB themselves and got consulting from us, as they are contributors to the SEB Alliance.
Having said that, we would be happy to support the development of Canvas support for SEB (see also our developer resources). If it requires a lot of technical or consulting contributions from our side, it would require that the partner on the LMS side implementing such an SEB integration into their system would become contributor to the SEB Alliance (Gold level or higher). A full SEB integration for an LMS may require a significant amount of work, depending on the scope (just checking if SEB with the correct configuration is used to access a test/quiz/exam, providing the correct config directly for the test inside the LMS as now in Moodle or even support for SEB Server). Also maintaining/updating/extending an integration usually requires some continuing/reoccurring work.
Another, easier way of using Canvas in a more secure way together with SEB might be an LTI integration of Canvas into Moodle. If you could embed a Canvas test into a Moodle quiz, then you might be able to make sure on the Moodle side that the Canvas test is only accessible in SEB with the correct SEB configuration. I don't know though if such an LTI integration of Canvas into other LMS/Moodle (not an LTI integration into Canvas) is possible or even already available.
If you are able to contribute for the development of an SEB integration into Canvas or can motivate other institutional users of Canvas to contribute for it, we're happy to discuss how to achieve that.
Daniel
Dear Mr. Schneider, Thank you very much for your reply. We actually spoke with Canvas and their solution was to reach out to the SEB support team and they proffered a URL based solution. I am not sure how such a would work with SEB considering it is locally installed. Regardless, thank you again for your response, my team and I will be looking into other solutions to get SEB talking with Canvas based on the solutions you provided.
On Monday, 12 December 2022, Daniel R. Schneider @.***> wrote:
Hi,
We have received requests in the past to support Canvas and also have been in discussions with Canvas/Instructure itself. The problem is, that we are generally not implementing LMS support/integrations for SEB ourselves. That would be out of scope, especially because SEB supports a variety of learning management and exam solutions. Also we are no web or in this case Canvas add-on developers. We expect the provider of an LMS to implement SEB support themselves or with the help of their users/community. As SEB is a non-commercial, freeware solution, it's the users of a particular LMS profiting most by having a free lock down browser solution available.
For existing integrations in Moodle, Open edX, OpenOLAT, ILIAS, usually the user community or main provider of these solutions contributed either development or funding to develop the integration. In the case of commercial exam solutions like Inspera Assessment, Dugga, Exam.net, Swiss Learning Hub, Integrity Advocate, EvaSys etc., the involved companies implemented integrated support for SEB themselves and got consulting from us, as they are contributors to the SEB Alliance.
Having said that, we would be happy to support the development of Canvas support for SEB (see also our developer resources). If it requires a lot of technical or consulting contributions from our side, it would require that the partner on the LMS side implementing such an SEB integration into their system would become contributor to the SEB Alliance (Gold level or higher). A full SEB integration for an LMS may require a significant amount of work, depending on the scope (just checking if SEB with the correct configuration is used to access a test/quiz/exam, providing the correct config directly for the test inside the LMS as now in Moodle or even support for SEB Server). Also maintaining/updating/extending an integration usually requires some continuing/reoccurring work.
Another, easier way of using Canvas in a more secure way together with SEB might be an LTI integration of Canvas into Moodle. If you could embed a Canvas test into a Moodle quiz, then you might be able to make sure on the Moodle side that the Canvas test is only accessible in SEB with the correct SEB configuration. I don't know though if such an LTI integration of Canvas into other LMS/Moodle (not an LTI integration into Canvas) is possible or even already available.
If you are able to contribute for the development of an SEB integration into Canvas or can motivate other institutional users of Canvas to contribute for it, we're happy to discuss how to achieve that.
Daniel
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Dear Mr. Schneider, Thank you very much for your reply. We actually spoke with Canvas and their solution was to reach out to the SEB support team and they proffered a URL based solution.
Canvas is written in Ruby on Rails, and although it is open-sourced and plugins can be written to allow direct integration, this will not work for Instructure hosted instances unless your pull-request is accepted. Based on our discussion with Canvas partner support, that is unlikely to happen unless money is exchanged. This is what a certain well-known company did for their commercial browser which precedes SEB origin by about 9-years.
At my place of work we went the LTI route to be more flexible, as it is also how our student identity verification and proctoring solution integrates (Instructure has no immediate plans to add LTI 1.3 Advantage/Proctoring Services to Canvas). SEB allows institutions to feel more confident in the environment that the student uses, but it is only a very small part to monitor academic dishonesty.
Canvas is written in Ruby on Rails, and although it is open-sourced and plugins can be written to allow direct integration, this will not work for Instructure hosted instances unless your pull-request is accepted. Based on our discussion with Canvas partner support, that is unlikely to happen unless money is exchanged. This is what a certain well-known company did for their commercial browser which precedes SEB origin by about 9-years.
So if someone would develop such a plugin for Canvas allowing direct integration with SEB, Instruction would still want some money to accept a pull-request? I guess because they would need to review, test and maybe maintain it?
It's unfortunate that they don't understand that Canvas and their customers would profit most from an SEB integration in Canvas, as those customers could have the choice using a free secure browser. But maybe a reason also is that they have a deal with that certain well-known company with their commercial browser...
At my place of work we went the LTI route to be more flexible, as it is also how our student identity verification and proctoring solution integrates (Instructure has no immediate plans to add LTI 1.3 Advantage/Proctoring Services to Canvas).
Are you using Moodle as the LTI Tool Consumer (host) and Canvas as a LTI Tool provider then?
It's unfortunate that they don't understand that Canvas and their customers would profit most from an SEB integration in Canvas,
Totally agree, because for us it is agnostic what method is used and direct support would be much better. Their development team is focused still on NewQuizzes (or whatever it is renamed to again) and we keep asking to push LTI 1.3 Advantage/Proctoring Service support. Hopefully in 2024 which will then open up the way for more features.
Are you using Moodle as the LTI Tool Consumer (host) and Canvas as a LTI Tool provider then?
No, we integrated SEB within our product, and because we are already embedded into Canvas as an LTI-tool it works on any other LMS as well. For Moodle and Blackboard Original View we have a respective plugin and B2, but for Blackboard Original View we integrate through LTI 1.3 Advantage/Proctoring Services via Blackboard Ultra Extended Framework (UEF).
We simply do a check to ensure the student is in the SEB environment before allowing them to continue with our product and thereby blocking access to the course content until they meet all the requirements. It is a round-about way of doing it vs the integration you have with Moodle direct, but it works and extends support.