Learning Management Systems

Shindig Video Chat Now Integrates with Canvas LMS

• By Rhea Kelly
• 06/29/16

Shindig has announced its integration with Canvas by Instructure, bringing the former's video chat platform to the learning management system. 

The integration allows instructors to instantly schedule, customize and launch Shindig directly from within the Canvas LMS, as well as automatically add the video chat sessions to students' schedules. The sessions can be used for course delivery, office hours, guest speakers, workshops and more. Students receive an alert when new sessions are scheduled; can RSVP and receive start time reminders; and log in to the sessions directly from Canvas via single sign-on.

Session analytics reports provide instructors with data on attendance, duration of stay, time of entry, time of departure, engagement through question or sidebar chat and more.

"We are very excited about the enhanced interactivity a partnership with Shindig brings to teachers and students using Canvas," said Troy Anderson, director of partnerships for Instructure, in a prepared statement. "Shindig's peer-to-peer approach to synchronous video chat for teaching and learning is a valuable addition to the online Canvas experience. The platform's robust teacher-to-student and student-to-student engagement can enhance student body formation and student retention."

The Shindig Canvas plugin is available for free on a public GitHub Repo. Once the plugin is installed in the university's LMS, IT administrators can contact Shindig for an API key to enable the creation of on-demand Shindig sessions in Canvas. The company is offering each Canvas client institution 10 free Shindig sessions of up to 1,000 attendees.

For more information, visit the Shindig site. Canvas by Instructure can also be found at the ISTE 2016 conference in Denver in booth 700.