Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)

LTI 2.0 is supported on Blackboard Learn Q4 2017 and later. LTI 1.0 is supported on Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP4 and later. LTI 1.1 is supported on Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP10 and above.

Learning Tools Interoperability is an initiative managed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium to seamlessly integrate learning applications used by instructors into their courses. It includes a standard protocol for establishing a trusted relationship between the tool provider and the Learning Management System so that students and teachers can have a seamless, integrated experience of using the tool within the context of their course.

More on LTI from IMS Global Learning

Instructors using external applications (such as virtual science experiments, interactive demos, or assessments) that comply with the standard can specify URLs in their courses as links to learning tools. Learning tool links can be customized by instructors or administrators to include personalized information and make the connection process easier for users.

LTI Tools are handled like any other Third-Party tool in Blackboard Learn. The availability of LTI tools can be managed globally by the System Administrator via the System Admin->Tools link. For more information, see Manage Tools.

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Manage LTI tool providers

Instructors can manage their learning tool links individually by including Provider-specified keys and configuration information when creating a URL in their course. For instructor information, see link to a tool provider.

For institutions with multiple instructors using the same tool provider, or simply to assist instructors in creating Learning Tool URLs, administrators can manage provider information for their whole system.

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Enable or disable LTI tools for courses and organizations

You can manage the default settings for LTI tool providers. You can override these settings on an individual basis when setting up an individual provider.

1. On the Administrator Panel, under Integrations, select LTI Tool Providers.
2. Select Manage Global Properties.
3. Under Feature Availability, set Enabled in Courses and Enabled in Organizations to Yes to enable or No to disable LTI tools.
4. Select Submit.

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Configure LTI tool providers global properties

You can manage the default settings for LTI tool providers. You can override these settings on an individual basis when setting up an individual provider.

1. On the Administrator Panel, under Integrations, select LTI Tool Providers.
2. Select Manage Global Properties.
3. Under Feature Availability, select the default availability of learning tool links. Making learning tool links unavailable removes the extra configuration functionality from the Instructor's Create Web Link workflow, and only standard URLs will be supported in that workflow.
4. Manage the settings under Feature Availability:
   • Enable the tool in courses.
   • Enable the tool in organizations.
   • Select your Creation of Tool Provider Links preference:
     • Allow links to any tool provider that isn't explicitly excluded — Allows users to add learning tool links to any provider that the administrator has not specifically excluded when managing LTI tool providers.
     • Allow links to any tool provider, but require approval for each new provider — Allows users to add learning tool links to any provider, but the links will not work until the administrator changes the provider's status to Approved.
     • Allow only links to approved tool providers — Users can't add learning tool links unless the administrator has already approved the provider.
   • Select whether to allow Tool Providers to post grades to the Grade Center.
     • This is a global setting. When enabled, Blackboard Learn accepts grades posted by external Tool Providers, but only into Grade Center columns created by Tool Provider placements in courses.
     • For a Tool Provider to use this setting, it must be configured with a placement that allows grading.
5. In the Default Configuration section, set options for user data and user acknowledgement. This provides the default settings for what information is sent to the learning tool and for user notification and acknowledgement.
   • Send User Data: Select Never, Send user data only over SSL or Send user data over any connection. The default setting sends data over any connection because secure information, such as username and password, is not being sent.
   • User Fields to Send: Select what information will be provided to the learning tool when the user selects the link. You can select any combination of Role in Course, Name, and Email Address. Depending on the nature of the tool provider, it may have specific requirements or specific functionality that depends on some or all of this information being passed to the provider.
   • Allow Membership Service Access: This option allows the tool provider to request the roster information even before the users have accessed the tool for the first time. A tool provider can't request roster information for any course until a user has launched a link from that course. The roster information will only be shared from courses that are actually using the LTI tool.
   • Show User Acknowledgement Message: Select whether a user acknowledgment message appears when the user selects a learning tool link, such as a notification that the user is leaving Blackboard Learn for an external site. Yes turns the message on, and No turns it off, allowing users to go directly to the tool provider's page.
   • Message Text: If you select Yes for Show User Acknowledgement Message, provide the text for the message.
6. Select Submit.

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Add a new LTI tool provider

1. On the Administrator Panel, under Integrations, select LTI Tool Providers.
2. Select Register LTI 1.1 Provider.
3. Type the Provider Domain, such as www.example.com.
4. Select the Provider Domain Status - Approved or Excluded. Approved is the default setting. Selecting Excluded prevents users from adding tool links to that provider.
5. Optionally, provide any Secondary Hostnames for the provider. The provider can supply this information.
6. Tool providers can offer configuration for the entire site, or for each individual link. If the provider allows configuration for the entire site, select Set Globally and type the Tool Provider Key and Tool Provider Secret. Leaving the Default Configuration as Set separately for each link requires users to enter the Key and Secret when creating each link.
7. Add any custom parameters required by the tool provider in the text box Tool Provider Custom Parameters.
   • Each parameter must be on its own line.
   • Parameters must be formatted as a "name=value" pair.
   • Custom parameters can include template variables that are resolved using data from Learn, in the Learn parameter format @x@ user.full_name @x@.

     More on Template Variables

8. The Institution Policies section pulls preferences from the Global Properties. You can manage settings for the individual provider here.

Any choices you make for the individual provider override the Global Properties.

Default tool providers

By default, Blackboard Learn enables a tool called Application Authorization whose URL starts with https://developer.blackboard.com/. Blackboard Learn uses this system tool to authenticate REST-based applications. By itself, it doesn't grant access to any other applications. We recommend you leave it in place so you can deploy applications that interact with Blackboard Learn.

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Add a new LTI 1.3 tool provider

When you register an app in the Developer Portal, you can add it to your Learn environment using an LTI 1.3 tool.

1. On the Administrator Panel, select LTI Tool Providers.
2. Select Register LTI 1.3 /AdvantageTool.
3. In the Client ID field, enter the Application ID of the application you've registered. If you didn't register the application, contact the application developer to obtain the Client ID.
4. Select Submit.
5. You're brought to a page that displays the application's configuration settings from the Developer Portal. These values are read-only and can't be changed within Blackboard Learn. The Institution Policies section pulls preferences from the Global Properties. You can manage settings for the individual provider here.

   Any choices you make for the individual provider override the Global Properties.

6. Select Submit to register the tool.

When you enable an LTI application that supports JavaScript injection, you must accept the security warning to enable the application. Once enabled, the Allow JavaScript Injection column on the LTI Tool Providers page is set to Yes. 

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Manage provider status

The LTI Tool Providers page lists the LTI tool providers and their current status:

• Needs Approval: If you selected Allow links to any tool provider, but require approval for each new provider in the Global Properties, new tool providers will appear in this status until you approve them.
• Approved: These providers have been approved, and their learning tool links are active.
• Excluded: Users cannot add tool links to these providers.

Change the status of or to delete a tool provider

1. On the Administrator Panel, under Integrations, select LTI Tool Providers.
2. For the desired tool provider select Approve, Exclude, or Delete.

Deleting an LTI domain or placement will break all existing LTI links. Re-adding the LTI domain or placement will not fix the broken links. Don't delete an LTI Placement or Domain unless you are certain you will never use it again.
To Migrate an LTI 1.1 tool to LTI 1.3, create the new LTI tool with the same domain and accept the Prompt to migrate to LTI 1.3. This will safely handle existing links.

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Managing placements

After you have added a new LTI provider, it appears on the LTI providers list. From here, you can manage the placement of the tool in Learn. Creating a name and placing the tool in a menu in Blackboard Learn is not required, but it makes it easy for instructors to find and use. Users adding the LTI tool to their courses do not have to know the tool URL or secret key. If a tool provider has no placements, instructors can still use it in courses as described in link to a tool provider.

1. From the LTI Tool Providers page, open the menu for the tool and select Manage Placements.
2. Select Create Placement.
3. Enter a label. This is the name that appears to users in a course.
4. Add a description if the tool appears to students in their Tools menu. Descriptions do not appear to instructors.
5. Enter a handle. Because this becomes the database entry, it must be unique and can only contain alphanumeric, underscore, or dash characters.
6. For Availability, select Yes or No. For links managed by a Building Block, you can set an LTI placement to unavailable. Users will only see the tool once, instead of both Building Block and LTI tool links for the same tool.
7. Select a Type.

   You can't change the placement type for an existing placement. You'll have to create a new placement to change the type.

   • Deep Linking content tool: Allow instructors and course builders to launch the LTI tool and add content from the tool provider, rather than adding content through the Blackboard Learn interface. If the tool provider is configured so that the instructor can select multiple pieces of content in a single import, this tool can save time and simplify the workflow.
     • Allow student access: Give students permission to also add content from the tool provider.
   • Course content tool: Allow instructors to add the tool to their course content.
     • Allows grading: Allow instructors to add grading features such as due date and points possible to the tool.
   • Course tool: The tool appears to instructors and course builders in the Course Management section of an Original course and in the Books & Tools menu of an Ultra course.
     • Allow student access: When selected student can access the tool in the student Tools menu. Add a description to help student understand what the tool is and what it does.
   • A System Tool can be opened without accessing a course and appears in the Tools menu of the My Institution tab.
   • An Administrator tool allows administrators to add the tool to the Tools & Utilities menu on the Administrator Panel.
8. Add an icon for the tool by selecting Browse and uploading an image file 50 x 50 pixels.
9. Type in the tool provider information. In most cases, this is the same information you added when you created the tool, unless you are creating multiple placements for the same registered provider.
10. Select Submit.

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Place an LTI tool using Content-Item Message standard

Content-Item message 1.0 is an LTI specification for exchanging content between LTI tools and Blackboard Learn. Many types of content can be shared, such as static links, embedded images or other media types and files, extending the LTI toolbox and streamlining the process of setting up an LTI tool link. Content-Item message enables external (LTI) tools to appear in the same way that internal tools do.

More on LTI Content-Item message at the IMS Global website

When you place a tool in a course using the Content-Item Message option, instructors and course builders can add third-party content from a trusted provider's website directly, without having to navigate back to Learn. Instructors can add multiple pieces of content at once, rather than adding each piece of content individually.

These abilities depend on how the provider's content is configured. If the tool provider is configured so that the instructor can select multiple pieces of content in a single import, Content-Item Message can save time and simplify the workflow.

Automatic grades release for 3rd party tools using LTI Advantage

LTI Advantage / LTI v1.3 tools can define whether grades should auto-post to students.

• Ultra Course View: We now default to auto-post grades for LTI Advantage tools. Instructors will not have to remember to post grades. One exception exists when a tool indicates that grades should not post to students.
• Original Course View: The behavior for LTI Advantage tools remains unchanged. Grades auto-release when the tool sends scores. One exception exists when the Grade Center column is not visible.

LTI Advantage tools can also manage the release of grades. When appropriate, grades auto-post to students.  

• Ultra Course View: If a tool sets that grades should not auto-post, scores sent to the Learn Gradebook only display to instructors. Instructors can choose to post grades for students, or the tool can auto-release grades later.
• Original Course View: If a tool sets that grades should not auto-post, scores sent to the Learn Grade Center appear behind a “Needs Grading” status indicator. Students and instructors see that students have submitted work but not the result. When the tool releases grades, all students will see their scores.

LTI Advantage includes the gradesReleased  line item attribute. You can specify it in a Deep Linking message or an Assignment and Grades service call. You only need to update your tool if you want to send scores to Learn but release them to students later.

The default value for gradesReleased is true, if you do not specify the attribute. When set to false, students will not see scores sent to the gradebook. When the attribute is true, students see current scores and future updates. If you use the gradesReleased=false attribute and want to maintain compatibility with Original Course View, you will need to manage the release of grades. Instructors do not have a post action in Original Course View to release grades. Instructors do have the post action in Ultra Course View.