Adding and configuring the Blackboard for Zoom app

The Blackboard for Zoom connector enables natural language interactions with Blackboard Learn courses through the Learn REST API. Teachers and students can manage courses, users, gradebook, content, discussions, calendar, attendance, groups, and related course tools through conversational commands, while maintaining secure three-legged OAuth (3LO) authentication. Zoom account owners or admins must install the Blackboard for Zoom connector for their account, during which they configure the connection between Blackboard Learn and Zoom.

Requirements for installing and configuring the Blackboard for Zoom connector

• Zoom account owner or admin privileges
• Blackboard Learn administrator privileges
• Access to the Anthology Developer Portal to register a REST API application

How to add the Blackboard for Zoom app

To configure the Blackboard for Zoom connector, an admin must create REST API credentials in Blackboard, register that application on the Learn site, then use the Application Key and Secret to configure the connector in the Zoom Marketplace. Blackboard uses three different identifiers. Keep them distinct:

Create REST API credentials in Blackboard

Complete both of the following subsections. The Developer Portal issues the key and secret. The Learn Administrator Panel authorizes that application to call APIs on your site.

Register a REST application in the Developer Portal

1. Sign in to the Anthology Developer Portal with an institutional developer account.
2. Register a REST API application (not an LTI tool).
3. Configure the following settings:
   • Name: Zoom Blackboard Connector.
   • Domain: integrations.zoom.us (the host where Zoom completes OAuth).
     Note: If the form asks for a redirect URL, enter https://integrations.zoom.us/connectors/oauth/callback/authorized.
4. After registration, copy the values for the Application ID, Application Key, Secret immediately.
   Note: The portal shows the key and secret only once
5. In the application's API permissions, enable the REST resources your institution wants Zoom to use (courses, users, memberships, gradebook, content, discussions, calendar, and related tools). The Zoom connector includes 197 Learn REST actions across those areas.

For portal registration details, see Registering and managing a REST or LTI application.

Register the integration in Blackboard Learn

1. Sign in to Blackboard Learn as an administrator.
2. Open the Administrator Panel.
3. Under Integrations, click REST API Integrations.
4. Click Create Integration.
5. Configure the following settings:
   • Application ID: paste the Application ID from the Developer Portal (not the Application Key).
   • Learn User: browse to a dedicated Learn user whose system-role privileges cover the APIs this connector will call. Create a service user for this integration rather than using a personal admin account.
   • End User Access: Yes.
     Note: This connector uses three-legged OAuth and acts on behalf of the signed-in Zoom user, limited to that user’s Learn permissions.
   • Authorized to act as user: Yes.
6. Submit the integration.

For Learn-side registration and 3LO behavior, see Building Blocks and REST APIs and Three-legged OAuth.

Add Blackboard for Zoom in the Zoom Marketplace

1. Sign in to the Zoom Marketplace.
2. In the top-right corner, search for Blackboard for Zoom, or open the Blackboard for Zoom listing.
3. Click Add.
4. In the Configure Blackboard window, enter the following information:
   • In the Domain field, enter your Learn host without https:// (for example, your-institution.blackboard.com).
   • In the Client ID field, enter the Application Key from the Developer Portal. Do not enter the Application ID.
   • In the Client Secret field, enter the Secret from the Developer Portal.
   • In the Scopes field, enter the following space-delimited scopes:
     • Read: Covers GET actions (courses, users, gradebook, content, and similar).
     • Write: Covers POST and PUT actions (create and update).
     • Delete: Covers DELETE actions (remove courses, content, memberships, and similar).
     • Offline: Required for refresh tokens so Zoom can renew access without sending the user through Learn login every hour.
   • Note: The Configure window placeholder shows read/write. That pair is enough for read and create/update tools only. Include delete and offline unless you intentionally want to block delete tools and token refresh.
5. Under Admin settings, click the Set these configurations as default for all users toggle to enable it.
6. (Optional) To prevent all users in the account from changing this setting, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.
7. Click Submit.
8. Complete the installation and Blackboard consent prompt.

How to use the Blackboard for Zoom app

Using the Blackboard for Zoom connector with ZoomMate

Admins can connect Blackboard to ZoomMate, allowing users to manage courses, assignments, discussions, grades, and other LMS tasks through conversational commands in ZoomMate. 

How to remove the Blackboard for Zoom app

1. Sign in to the Zoom Marketplace web portal.
2. Click My Library.
3. Next to Blackboard for Zoom, click the more icon .
4. Click Remove.

Note: To stop Learn API access, a Learn administrator can also delete the REST API Integration in the Administrator Panel. Rotating or deleting keys in the Developer Portal invalidates the Client ID and Client Secret stored in Zoom.

Data Security for the Blackboard for Zoom app

Communications between this app and Zoom and Blackboard Learn are encrypted:

• Protocol: TLS 1.2
• Cipher suite: ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
• Key length: 128 bits
• Perfect Forward Secrecy: YES

This app stores access credentials in the local data store:

• Blackboard OAuth2 tokens and Zoom OAuth credentials (both user-level only) are stored in an encrypted database.

How your data is used for the Blackboard for Zoom app

The Blackboard for Zoom Marketplace connectorallows Zoom Communications, Inc., access to your Blackboard Learn course information records. To do so, you’ll need to share Learn permissions. You decide what permissions to share with Zoom according to the 3LO scopes (read, write, delete, offline) requested at install time and the privileges of the signed-in Learn user. Learn still enforces that user’s role entitlements in addition to those scopes.

• Courses and memberships (course list, course details, children/cross-listing, enrollments): Used to display courses, verify access, manage memberships, and cross-list child courses.
• User profile (user ID, name, avatar, observers): Used to authenticate the Learn identity, look up users, and determine role context.
• Gradebook (columns, attempts, grades, schemas, categories, notations, grading periods, logs): Used to display and update grade data.
• Content and assignments (contents, children, files, attachments, adaptive release, review status, TOC): Used to display, create, update, and organize course content.
• Discussions and messages (forums, messages, replies, participants): Used to view and continue course conversations from Zoom.
• Calendar, attendance, and meetings: Used to display and manage calendar items, attendance records, and course meetings.
• Groups and group sets: Used to list and manage course groups and memberships.
• Rubrics and goals: Used to display rubric evaluations and goal alignments.
• Announcements: Used to display and create course or system announcements.
• Content Collection and catalog: Used to access institutional file resources and catalog categories.

By authorizing this connection, the Blackboard for Zoom connectormaintains ongoing access to your information.