What is Canvas Data 2?

Canvas Data 2 provides streamlined, bulk access to low-latency data for customers and partners to enable data warehouses and learning analytics.

For more information about Canvas Data 2, view the API specification.

Notes:

  • Features that allow users to interact with analytics or generate reports from within the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) user interface are not part of this work.
  • New users without access to Canvas Data 1 should contact their Customer Success Manager (CSM) to be onboarded to Canvas Data 2. Current Canvas Data 1 users will be onboarded to Canvas Data 2 on a phased, rolling basis.

Canvas Data 2

Canvas Data 2 offering is a set of services and technologies that provides institutions with access to download their raw data across various Instructure educational products. Canvas Data 2 allows institution IT/data teams to retrieve their school's LMS data in bulk and keep it up-to-date (4 hours of data freshness) to conduct their own research and build custom reports, dashboards, and tools to meet the unique needs of the institution. Canvas Data 2 allows access to high-fidelity source data and provides more granular data.

Audience and Usage

The intended audience for this tool is institution data analysts, developers, or data administrators with some knowledge of raw data collection and transformation.

Institutions are likely to use this data for analytics and custom reporting initiatives.

Usage:

  • Low latency (4 hours)
  • Transactional data
  • Operational data
  • Bulk transfers

Note: Canvas Data 2 is an opt-in product, nevertheless in the initial phase as customers are onboarded in an ongoing fashion, the data freshness may be higher than 4 hours.

Data Schema and Versioning

Canvas Data 2 introduces a new relational data schema instead of the star schema from Canvas Data 1.

The Canvas Data 2 schema is versioned; any updates (additions and deletions) create a new schema version for a table.

Data Refresh and Formats

Data is available approximately within 4 hours from the transaction in Canvas.

The following formats are available:

  • JSON
  • CSV
  • TSV
  • Parquet

Datasets

There are 89 unique datasets (tables).

Data will be available as snapshots (state at current point in time) or incremental updates (most recent changes between two points in time).