5 Ways LMS Integrations Make Life Easier for Teachers

Too often, schools invest in digital tools that teachers can’t easily access or use. This leads to frustration in the classroom and churn for edtech companies. LMS integrations help get teachers started faster by reducing setup time and letting them dive into teaching right away.

What LMS Integration Really Means

LMS integration is how an educational tool connects to a learning management system — like Canvas, Schoology, or Google Classroom — to share information between platforms automatically. Instead of requiring teachers or IT staff to manually upload rosters or enter grades in multiple places, an integrated edtech app can exchange that data in real time.

At its core, LMS integration helps third-party tools talk to the LMS. This connection makes it possible to do things like:

Let teachers and students log in using their LMS credentials (SSO)
Sync class rosters and student information automatically
Share assignments, files, or lessons directly inside the LMS
Send grades from the app to the LMS gradebook without extra steps

Done right, LMS integration removes friction and saves time for teachers, students, and school staff alike. Here are our top 5 reasons why LMS integrations make teachers' lives easier.

1. SSO integration simplifies access for everyone.

The first challenge in getting teachers to want to use a new platform is to get them and students logged in. One of the easiest ways to overcome this hump is to integrate SSO. LMS providers like Canvas offer some form of SSO that allows users to log into third-party applications and platforms with a Canvas account (think: a “Sign in With Canvas” button on the app’s login screen). Teachers and students no longer have to remember a different set of credentials to log in to an integrated platform with SSO.

With SSO, teachers don't have to set up accounts for their students to log in or manage student passwords. A student coming from Schoology would simply click on the “Sign in with Schoology” button and enter their Schoology credentials to get signed into an integrated app.

2. LMS integrations allow apps to sync courses and student rosters.

LMS integrations allow edtech platforms to retrieve lists of courses and students on behalf of an authenticated teacher. This can save teachers time if the platform is designed to pre-provision accounts for students before they log in. That also means school administrators can trust the data is consistent and synced frequently, without relying on manual updates or email chains.

With rostering, teachers also won't have to spend time manually entering student information, which could lead to errors. Additionally, the integration can automatically take care of changes that are made to the course in the LMS. If a student is added to a course, the change will be reflected in the app.

Furthermore rostering this way keeps student data safer, since developers won’t have to generate CSVs of roster information and send them through insecure methods.

3. Push assignments and resources directly into the LMS.

Integrations can go beyond simply reading data from the LMS – they can also create and update content inside the LMS. Depending on the LMS and the type of integration, authenticated users can push resources like assignments and quizzes from the application into their LMS.

For example, a teacher who has signed into the application with their Google Workspace for Education credentials could click a button in the app that creates a new assignment in their selected course in Google Classroom. Students could then access this assignment by going straight to Google Classroom.

4. LMS integration saves time with grade sync.

One of the best time-saving features of LMS integrations is grade sync. Teachers hate entering grades twice. LMS integration can enable applications to automatically sync grades to the LMS, which saves teachers time overall.

Without grade sync, teachers either have to manually enter grades back into their grade book, which is error-prone. Or teachers can download a CSV file of the results from the app and upload it into their grade book, which could take time and may require modifications from the teacher.

For example: Let's say a teacher assigns a multiple-choice quiz to their students in Canvas from an edtech platform. Students can log in to the app using their Canvas credentials and then complete the quiz. Once completed, the app can grade the quiz and send the results back to the Canvas grade book automatically. The teacher only has to review the grades once.

5. Better student experience = better classroom experience

Perhaps the best way to help teachers is to help their students. Integrations improve the user experience and can save class time. Integrations can bring down barriers to logging in, viewing resources, and interacting with outside platforms. Highly integrated products can offer a seamless experience for students so they spend more time learning and less time figuring out how a digital product works.

And another thing...

LMS integrations don’t just benefit teachers — they support students, administrators, and IT teams, too. A thoughtful integration strategy cuts down on errors, streamlines data sharing, and eliminates repetitive setup tasks. That means fewer support tickets and a smoother experience for everyone involved.

For edtech companies, LMS integration should be the way to deliver even more value, not the focus of your product. Schools now expect edtech tools to work with their LMS — and when yours does, it helps you stand out, reduce churn, and win trust from the start.

*Updated 9.26.25

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