Genius and your Learning Management System

Introduction

With online learning becoming more prevalent, schools must use multiple tools and applications to address various needs. With that in mind, Genius SIS interfaces with other applications to exchange information and keep data synchronized. One of the main applications that Genius integrates with is your LMS.

This article describes the information that is exchanged between Genius and your LMS in hopes to provide a better understanding of how and what type of information flows between one system and the other. 

Why Integrate Genius and your LMS?

Genius is designed to save time and help information flow when it comes to managing an e-Learning initiative. Integrating Genius with your LMS eliminates the need to enter data twice, which saves time and produces less errors. Genius also makes key data gathered by the LMS more visible through the use of Dashboards and Reports, providing managers and instructors alike easier access to pertinent information. This results in better decision making that helps ensure the success of your e-Learning initiative.

The Integration between Genius and your LMS

Learning Management Systems (LMS, LCMS, or CMS) are applications designed to house both the actual course content as well as the grades obtained by learners as they complete their coursework. An LMS is the application that learners will use in order to access their courses, complete assignments, and submit their work. Examples of LMS are Agilix’s Brightthinker, Blackboard's Learn, Instructure's Canvas, Schoolohy, and Open LMS, amongst others. 

Typically, the integration between Genius SIS and the LMS works in both directions; Genius SIS will send information to the LMS, and the LMS will send information to Genius SIS.

From Genius to your LMS:

 Listed below is some information that flows from Genius to your LMS:

• Course creation and updates 
• Section creation and updates
• Instructor creation and updates  
• Learner creation and updates
• Teacher enrollments in sections  
• Learner enrollments in sections  

From your LMS to Genius: 

Conversely, information sent from the LMS to Genius SIS may include: 

• Grade information (assignments completed and grades)
• Enrollment status (Genius SIS gets notified when a final grade is issued so the learner can be removed from the section)  
• Learner activity 

Your organization may exchange more or less data between Genius and your LMS, depending on the scope of the integration between the two systems. 

Integration with the LMS may even include a Single Sign-on procedure (SSO), where the user logs into one system and is automatically logged into the other system as well. This helps make the navigation between the systems seamless in that users do not need to re-enter their login and password. 

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Please disregard if not using Blackboard Learn or Learn Ultra.

- The LOCAL ID field in Enterprise+ for adding a new learner will populate in the LMS as the Learner ID.

1. Under the Administration tab, find LMS. Enable the following options: Update Learner ID and Update Batch ID.

2. Map the Local ID to the StudentIndex through Properties to LMS mapping.