Blackboard Learn REST API

Name: Blackboard Learn REST API API
Brand: Blackboard Learn REST API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentEducationLmsbearer, basic59 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Manage Blackboard Learn courses, users, memberships, content, and grades through 59 REST endpoints scoped to a per-institution Learn server. Suited to LMS automation agents that operate inside an instance.

Quickstart

Get started with Blackboard Learn REST API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"enrol a student in a Blackboard course"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Blackboard Learn REST API API.

List, create, and update Blackboard Learn user accounts within an institution

Enrol and unenrol users in courses by managing course memberships

Read and write grade columns and per-student grade entries against assignments

Publish and update course content items and announcements

GET STARTED

Start building with Blackboard Learn REST API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for Blackboard Learn REST API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for Blackboard Learn REST API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. Blackboard Learn (by Anthology) is a higher-education LMS whose REST API exposes 59 endpoints covering users, courses, course memberships, content, grades, announcements, assignments, terms, calendar events, and OAuth-based authorization. Each Learn instance is hosted on its own subdomain, so the base URL is the institution's Learn server with the public path /learn/api/public/v1 or /v3. Authentication uses OAuth 2.0 client-credentials issuing a bearer token, with HTTP basic for the token-exchange endpoint itself.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Blackboard Learn REST API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Automated Roster Enrolment

Synchronise an institution's SIS roster with Blackboard Learn by calling POST /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users/{userId} for each student in a feed. Removed students are unenrolled with the matching DELETE call. Because Learn returns membership records keyed by external user ID, agents can run idempotent diffs and keep enrolments aligned without exporting CSVs.

Call PUT /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users/{userId} with the student's external ID and the role 'Student' for each row in the SIS feed

Grade Posting from External Tools

Push grades from an external auto-grading service back into Blackboard Learn by reading the grade column via GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns and writing each student score with the corresponding grade endpoint. Learn handles weighting, late penalties, and gradebook visibility on its side, so the integrating service only sends raw scores plus a feedback note.

Find the target column via GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/gradebook/columns, then PATCH each student's grade with the score and feedback

Course Content Publishing

Automate content rollouts at the start of a term by listing existing items via GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents and posting new content blocks for syllabus, readings, and assignments. Combined with announcements, this lets an LMS administrator scaffold dozens of courses from a template repo without clicking through the Learn UI.

Call POST /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents with the syllabus item title and body, then post a kick-off announcement to the same course

AI Agent LMS Operations via Jentic

An AI agent embedded in an institution's helpdesk or registrar workflow can drive Blackboard Learn through Jentic without managing the OAuth client secret directly. Jentic's intent search routes to the correct /learn/api/public/v1 endpoint with its full schema, and the OAuth credential is loaded from the vault at execution time so it never enters the agent's tool context.

Search Jentic for 'enrol a student in a Blackboard course', load PUT /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users/{userId}, and execute with the student's external ID and the target course

Key Endpoints

59 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for blackboard learn rest api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/learn/api/public/v1/oauth2/token

Exchange client credentials for a bearer token

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/users

List Blackboard Learn users

GET

/learn/api/public/v3/courses

List courses on the Learn instance

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users

List users enrolled in a course

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/users/{userId}/courses

List courses a user is enrolled in

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/contents

List content items in a course

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/system/version

Return the Learn instance version

POST

/learn/api/public/v1/oauth2/token

Exchange client credentials for a bearer token

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/users

List Blackboard Learn users

GET

/learn/api/public/v3/courses

List courses on the Learn instance

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users

List users enrolled in a course

GET

/learn/api/public/v1/users/{userId}/courses

List courses a user is enrolled in

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Blackboard Learn OAuth client secrets and bearer tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped execution access only — credentials are injected at execution time so the raw secret never enters the agent's prompt or tool context, which matters because the secret authorises grade and enrolment changes.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'enrol a student in a Blackboard course') and Jentic returns the matching /learn/api/public/v1 endpoint with its parameter schema, so the agent does not have to navigate Anthology's developer portal manually.

Time to first call

Direct Blackboard Learn integration: 3-5 days for OAuth setup, per-institution server resolution, and gradebook plumbing. Through Jentic: under 2 hours — search, load schema, execute against the institution's Learn host.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Schoology API

Schoology is another K-12 and higher-ed LMS with similar course, enrolment, and grade primitives.

Choose Schoology when the institution runs Schoology rather than Blackboard Learn.

Alternative

Moodle API

Moodle is the open-source LMS with comparable course and user management endpoints.

Choose Moodle when the institution self-hosts an open-source LMS instead of Anthology Blackboard Learn.

Complementary

Salesforce API

Salesforce often holds the student/applicant CRM record that feeds Learn enrolment.

Choose Salesforce when the agent needs to read or update the upstream applicant record before pushing enrolments to Blackboard.

FAQs

Specific to using Blackboard Learn REST API API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Blackboard Learn REST API?

Anthology publishes Blackboard Learn API documentation at developer.anthology.com but does not provide a downloadable OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Blackboard Learn via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the Blackboard Learn REST API use?

Blackboard Learn uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials. Call POST /learn/api/public/v1/oauth2/token with HTTP basic auth using the integration's client ID and secret to receive a bearer token, then send that token in the Authorization header on subsequent calls. Through Jentic the client secret and bearer token are stored in the encrypted vault and never injected into the agent's prompt context.

Can I enrol students in a course with the Blackboard Learn REST API?

Yes. PUT /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users/{userId} creates or updates a course membership with the desired role. Pair with the corresponding DELETE call to unenrol. Memberships can be queried via GET /learn/api/public/v1/courses/{courseId}/users.

What are the rate limits for the Blackboard Learn REST API?

The OpenAPI spec does not declare explicit rate limits. Each Learn instance is hosted per institution, so throughput depends on the institution's deployment. Back off on 429 responses and check the institution's Learn admin for any documented per-integration ceiling.

How do I post grades to Blackboard Learn through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, then search Jentic for 'post a grade to a Blackboard course'. Jentic returns the matching grade-column endpoint with its schema. Execute with the column ID, student ID, and score; Learn applies weighting and visibility rules on its side.

What is the base URL for the Blackboard Learn REST API?

The base URL is the institution's own Learn server (templated as https://{server} in the spec). Each integration must substitute the institution's Learn hostname before calling /learn/api/public/v1 or /v3 paths.