What You Gain with Edlink as Your Integration Partner

by Jordan Clark

Edlink simplifies the process of integrating with several different school data sources (think LMSs, SISs, or IDMs). There are many edtech products used across the country. Integrating these products to these data providers is a serious challenge for any developer.

To make it easy to connect, we’ve already written integrations to the most popular LMSs, like:

Developers can gain access to these and more systems by building only 1 integration to Edlink.

2 of the most popular methods of integrations are through the LTI standard or API. Depending on the needs and requirements of the school, our clients might be asked to integrate through a specific protocol. With Edlink, our clients have all of their bases covered. Edlink provides API integrations and LTI launch links. LTI launch links let Edlink-connected apps enable their LTI functionality.

Getting admins to make the connection to an Edlink client app can be challenging. For example, adding an LTI resource to a course can be challenging for both teachers and administrators if the user does not know how to configure an LTI tool properly. Additionally, some LMSs require administrators to create a developer key and then securely transmit the key ID and secret to the application to complete an integration. If a process is not in place to help admins to easily and quickly configure the integration between the application and their LMS, user onboarding can get off to a rocky start.

Currently, Edlink supports over 2200 school districts (and growing!). Meaning we’ve helped several school admins connect to our clients. On average the entire process takes, about 5 minutes for the administrator. We save admins literal hours when it comes to helping them configure integrations. Happier admins leads to a better onboarding experience and better adoption rates to our clients, other edtech companies.

Our development team has integrated with more than 20 educational LMSs, SISs, and IDMs. With each connection built, we gained first hand experience on the individual issues of each and how to approach them. Each platform has undocumented quirks. And if developers don’t plan ahead of time, each system can cause serious problems. When edtech companies become clients, Edlink developers help these teams approach integration issues and move to get integrations up and running quickly.

Connect to other data sources and strengthen your product overall

When clients work with Edlink, developers not only get access to integrate their product to major LMSs, but also connect to a variety of platforms. With Edlink in hand, clients gain access to systems like ClassLink and Clever! Edlink can also support connecting to OneRoster servers and ingesting OneRoster files. With these data sources, Edlink can help clients roster users and provide additional sign in methods that are all supported through the Edlink API.

If you’re interested to learn more about Edlink’s Unified API, here’re other articles we’ve written:

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Ready to see if Edlink can help you on your integration journey? Email us at support@ed.link to set up a call.