TCS Instructional Design

These application programming interfaces (APIs) are all the rage these days.  We hear about them in online commerce, social media, and now they are flooding the world of education and online learning.  So what are they exactly? An API is a way for websites, programmers, and applications to communicate with each other, exchanging information.  If I have a database with information that I would like to disseminate then I can develop an API and make that accessible to the world.  External developers can then create APIs with the purpose of communicating with my  API, and thus extract the information that I am making public.  It's similar to the notion of "my people will contact your people and we'll make this happen".  Only the people in mention is actually a software-to-software exchange. Why APIs are important APIs are a way to access information or databases which would otherwise be inaccessible.  For example, my database might be protected by a firewall, wherea

This last week I had the opportunity to attend Instructure's annual conference which focuses on it's flagship product, Canvas.  Founded in 2008, Instructure launched Canvas in 2011, and in that same year hosted its first annual conference.  The attendance at the first conference was meager, but in 2012 the attendance numbers grew to 600 attendees.  This year marked the third annual conference, with 1,200 attendees and a giant inflatable panda mascot flocking to the resorts of Park City.  Including staff and volunteers, some 1,500 people gathered to present and attend sessions.  After-hour festivities were themed based on the 1980's and included a conference carnival, visits from the Ghostbusters, a DeLorean (yes I had to google the spelling), and concerts from an 80's cover band and MC Hammer himself. The festivities were grand (and the 80's florescence was blinding), but the real value of the conference was obviously in the sessions.  Here are a few conferenc