The Situation…

Admins enable and manage integrations between their data sources and edtech products. As such, edtech developers should take steps so tech admins can easily manage integrations and control access to their data.

Admins become frustrated when they take time to set up integrations and then these integrations don't work or provide value. Admins also don't want to give access to their educational data providers (think LMSs, SISs, and IDMs) without knowing exactly what security risks are involved.

The difficulty and uncertainty of integrating edtech tools can cause relationships between schools and edtech developers to sour – leading to a poor experience for the school.

Enter Edlink…

Edlink’s Unified API was made to keep relationship between schools and developers happy and healthy.

Edlink’s platform is:

  • built with privacy and security in mind,
  • allows school administrators to fully understand how integrations work, and
  • let tech admins and edtech developers know what data is exchanged.

Edlink helps tech admins manage data integrations by:

Providing an easy-to-use interface for connecting educational data providers

When an Edlink client wants to integrate with a school's data source, Edlink will provide the client a setup link to send to the school administrator. Once in the link, the onboarding flow walks admins through the integration step-by-step. The onboarding flow provides information about how to connect their school to Edlink.

Admins can connect over 20 data providers from their school to Edlink and start integrating with an Edlink-hosted app in less than 5 minutes.

Keeping Data Sources Secure

School administrators are responsible for how third-parrty vendors access the data of teachers and students. Edlink supports the role of administrators by clearly showing requested data.

During the onboarding flow, school administrators can view what permissions to allow for requesting. The admin can then confirm or reject the requested data. Likewise, Edlink lets edtech developers to easily choose which permissions their app requires. It just so happens that Edlink urges developers to only request necessary permissions.

In tthe Edlink dashboard, admins can delete all data that is collected from their school's LMS or data source at any time. If a school needs to revoke access given to an app, the admin can do so with the click of a button. Edlink also provides admins with detailed information about requests made through the platform. This provides an audit trail that can be used in the event there is a data breach stemming either from an Edlink client or the school itself. These audit logs are available for 30 days.

Furthermore, Edlink understands how powerful developer keys can be. To prevent any mishandling, Edlink is completely secure via HTTPS. So admins can trust that developer keys that are entered into Edlink will not be seen by anyone else. Edlink also verifys all clients before they are allowed to request integrations.

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

Ready to Start Integrating?

Create a developer account to set up a test sandbox.

Or if you think Edlink can help you on your integration journey, email us at support@ed.link to set up a call.