Overview
The Blackboard LMS integration seamlessly syncs real-time academic and enrollment data from Blackboard into Element451. This guide will walk you through the setup process, from configuring Blackboard settings to completing the integration within Element451.
This is a one-way integration. Element451 reads data from Blackboard but does not write back any data.
Overview of the Setup Process
To get started, you'll work through three main steps:
Step 1: Set Up OAuth Authentication in Blackboard
To allow secure communication between Blackboard and Element451, you'll first need to register a REST API application in Blackboard. This generates a Client ID and Client Secret you'll use later in the setup.
Log in to your Blackboard account as a System Administrator.
Navigate to System Admin > Integrations > REST API Integrations.
Click Create Integration.
Fill in the required information:
Application ID:
f7835300-48bb-4051-b8a8-e43af1c7edc0Learn User: Select a user account with sufficient read permissions (usually an admin-level service account)
End User Access: Set to No
Authorized To Act As User?: Set to No
Set the following Redirect URI:
https://api.451.io/clients/integrations/blackboard/oauth2
Enable the following permission sets:
Courses
Users
Memberships
Organizations
Grades
🔗 For more detailed instructions, see Blackboard's guide on Registering an Application.
Step 2: Provide Credentials to Element451
Once you have registered your application in Blackboard, you'll need to provide the following credentials to your Element451 implementation specialist or support contact:
Client ID
Client Secret
Blackboard Instance URL (typically something like
https://youruniversity.blackboard.com)
Self-service integration setup is coming soon. For now, our team will complete the backend configuration for you.
Step 3: Authenticate the Integration
This is your final step! You'll need to authorize Element451 to access your Blackboard data using OAuth.
The user performing the authentication must meet the following conditions:
Be a Blackboard System Administrator
Have read access to:
Courses
Users
Memberships
Organizations
Grades (for future use)
Element451 only needs read permissions. No data will be written back to Blackboard.
Next Steps
Once authentication is complete, Element451 will begin syncing data from Blackboard. This data lives in Courses (Data + Automation > Courses), where you can view course records from your LMS.
Now that your course data is flowing into Element, you can begin using it to:
Build targeted segments
Trigger workflows + communications
Assign tasks or academic support resources
Personalize student experiences in StudentHub
To explore how to make the most of your LMS data, check out our Getting Started with Courses article.
LMS integrations are available as a premium add-on. To learn more about adding the feature, contact the Element451 customer support team.