§ SEB Canvas LTI
The SEB Canvas LTI integration, explained.
Searching for “SEB Canvas LTI” usually means one of two things: you want to understand how Safe Exam Browser and Canvas connect at all, or you are evaluating a specific way to run that connection in production. Safe Online Exam is the second thing — a complete SEB Canvas LTI integration your institution can run as a managed service or self-host. The questions below cover the first thing, in the order evaluators usually ask them.
What is a SEB Canvas LTI integration?
It is a service registered with Canvas as an LTI 1.3 tool that manages Safe Exam Browser for Canvas assessments. Instructors enable SEB on Classic or New Quizzes from course navigation; students receive a certificate-encrypted SEB configuration; and the Canvas access code is released only after SEB cryptographically proves it is running the approved configuration.
Why LTI 1.3 instead of the older LTI 1.1?
LTI 1.3 launches are signed JWTs validated against the Canvas JWKS — signature, issuer, audience, nonce, deployment ID, and message type are all checked before anything runs. That verified identity is what lets the tool bind an exam session to a real Canvas user and course instead of trusting a URL parameter.
Does it cover both Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes?
Yes. The integration discovers and manages both quiz engines from the same course-navigation placement, with the differences between the two handled by the service rather than by the instructor.
What does Canvas setup involve?
Two Developer Keys — an LTI 1.3 key created by dynamic registration and a Canvas API OAuth key with the application's scope set — plus installing the app at account scope and loading a small detector script through the account theme. The documentation walks through each step.
Beyond the launch
An LTI launch is where the integration starts, not where it ends
A signed launch proves who is asking. Everything after it is what makes locked-down exams dependable: certificate-encrypted SEB configurations that only open on approved devices, a Config Key proof that rejects stale or altered configs, a scoped Canvas session handoff that never copies the browser's cookies, and a root-account admin dashboard for school-wide oversight. The how-it-works page walks the full flow, and the documentation covers Canvas setup step by step — including both Developer Keys and the theme-loaded detector script.
Comparing against Respondus LockDown Browser or webcam-proctoring platforms? See how Safe Online Exam compares.