The fundamental idea behind the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard is to provide a specific way for edtech vendors to build their applications such that they can seamlessly integrate with Learning Management Systems (LMSs) such as Canvas, D2L, Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai as well as other learning platforms.
Within the LTI community, edtech vendor applications, such as those of publishers, are referred to as “tools,” as this software is often in the position of being a third party tool that is not accessed directly. Accordingly, within the LTI community, LMSs are referred to as “platforms” as the LMS is the location where instructors and learners are accustomed to accessing their course content and hence also their third party tools.
The LTI standard consists of several different specifications all of which were written by the community within 1EdTech, which publishes a wide variety of edtech standards including OneRoster, LIS, CASE, QTI, and Common Cartridge. When LTI 1.3, the newest version of LTI, was published, 1EdTech bundled together 4 specification documents with different integration functionalities as a group called LTI Advantage. These four specifications were LTI Core (SSO), Deep Linking, the Assignments & Grades Service (AGS), and the Names & Roles Provisioning Service (NRPS).
One of the latest updates from 1EdTech within the past year has been its newest official collection of LTI specifications known as LTI Advantage Data. LTI Advantage Data includes all of the same four original LTI Advantage Services with the addition of the LTI Caliper Analytics Connector Service.
What is LTI 1.3 Core?
The LTI Core specification builds off of 1EdTech’s Security Framework specification to explain how an instructor or learner can accomplish single-sign on (SSO) from a learning platform to an LTI tool. This means that once the user has logged into their LMS with their username and password, if they click on a link to a tool, they do not need to re-enter a new username and password to access the tool. Instead, they will automatically be logged into the tool, which may load framed inside the LMS or in a new tab.
As shown below, to the end user this is just like clicking on any other link in the LMS, but they’re immediately brought to the enriched content provided by the Biology Puzzle tool. In this example, the LTI tool is accessed from within a module in Canvas. However, there are many spots within each LMS where the LTI link can be placed, such as either of the left hand navigation bars that are shown below, among dozens of others.
What is LTI Deep Linking?
LTI Deep Linking is the second way that a user, typically an instructor in this case, can interact with a tool within their LMS in their browser. In general, the purpose of the Deep Linking flow is for an instructor to view a tool’s content selection menu so that they can pick what LTI links they would like to insert into their LMS course. Often, the tool’s Deep Linking menu will be configured to display an outline of the textbook that’s being used for this particular course so that the instructor can see what readings, activities, and assignments they would want to add from each chapter, module, or section. Below is an example of a mockup of a Deep Linking flow that we designed for Canvas:
What is the LTI Assignments & Grades Service (AGS)?
The LTI Assignments & Grades Service (AGS) is a way for the tool to asynchronously communicate with the LMS gradebook using standard REST APIs. The AGS specification refers to gradebook columns as line items. This means that the AGS line items service is what allows the tool to fetch all of the gradebook columns that it has within a particular course in the LMS. AGS also has a line item service that allows the tool to create, update, retrieve, and delete its own gradebook columns in a particular course. The AGS score service allows the tool to post a score or grade to a specific line item for a particular learner. The AGS result service allows the tool to retrieve a score from the LMS for a particular line item for a particular learner.
In practice, here’s what this flow looks like for a learner who’s just completed their assignment and is able to go over into the LMS gradebook and automatically see their grade posted there.
What is the Names & Roles Provisioning Service (NRPS)?
Some edtech vendor applications are highly personalized to the class roster in ways that make them unable to function without the entire roster preloaded when launched. One example of this would be a tool that has a progress dashboard comparing all of the students in the class, and another example is a tool that students can’t access until it knows who the instructor is. Knowing the class roster can also enable tools to send scores of zero for students who never opened the tool’s assignment. The solution for this is the Names & Roles Provisioning Service (NRPS), also known as the memberships service, which is a way for the tool to asynchronously fetch the entire class roster at any time after someone’s first launch into the tool within the LMS course. Here is an example of the data received from the LTI memberships service in Canvas:
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What is the LTI Caliper Analytics Connector Service?
Up to this point, a tool or platform has been able to become LTI Advantage certified if they have successfully implemented LTI Core SSO and at least one of the three specifications discussed above. The LTI Advantage Data certification expands off of this to require LTI Core SSO, at least one of the three specifications above, and the Caliper Analytics Connector Service to be successfully implemented.
Caliper is a 1EdTech standard separate from LTI that is similar to xAPI in that it allows for real-time events to be collected for analytics purposes. Many LMSs have already implemented Caliper such that institutions can analyze how students are interacting with the LMS and try to use changes in student behavior within the LMS to predict student outcomes. For example, if a student stops logging into their LMS, this may indicate that the student is doing poorly in the course and needs assistance. However, an LMS is only able to share with institutions the Caliper events that it’s aware of, but LMSs have no way of knowing on their own how users are interacting with LTI tools or if they’re interacting with them correctly, which leaves big gaps in the data collected while the users are interacting with an LTI tool. The solution for this is the LTI Caliper Analytics Connector Service which allows the tool to send Caliper events to an LMS so that it can pass this information along to institutions’ data analytics teams. This way, the tool can pass its Caliper events through to the LMS, just like a dam opening to pass water into an empty lake. For example, an LTI tool’s implementation of Caliper can be as simple as reporting an event each time a student clicks on the link and uses the tool as expected.
At this time, none of the major LMSs have implemented the LTI Caliper Analytics Connector Service, which makes it very difficult for edtech vendor applications to adopt this specification. However, institutions are very eager to give their data analytics teams a better understanding of which LTI tools are being used correctly by learners and which ones are leading to the greatest student success. Historically, institution RFP requirements have been the driving force for LMSs and edtech vendors to adopt 1EdTech standards, so the new LTI Advantage Data certification should be able to arm institutions with the power to get the LTI Caliper Analytics Connector Service adopted so that they can take advantage of the new streams of data that will come with it. If you’re part of an institution that’s eager to fill the gaps in your Caliper analytics data, spread the word!
Conclusion
An edtech vendor application or tool does not have to implement all of the LTI Advantage services in order to get certified by 1EdTech with this label, only the LTI Core flow and at least one other service need to be implemented for this certification. With the new LTI Advantage Data certification, 1EdTech will not be getting rid of the LTI Advantage certification which can remain for those who haven’t yet adopted the Caliper Analytics Connector service. However, adopting as many of the LTI Advantage services as makes sense for your application will typically result in the best user experience as well as a simpler and easier to manage integration architecture. Do you need help implementing the technical pieces of these integrations? Have you implemented LTI, but you’re wondering how you can raise the bar of your implementation to the best user experience possible? Have you implemented LTI but you’re experiencing way too many customer service calls as a result? We can help!
