LTI terminology
The LTI terms you meet in Linqur, grouped by theme: versions, parties and roles, keys and identifiers, URLs, and services.
LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is the standard that lets an LMS launch an external tool and receive results back. When you share content from Linqur, Linqur is the tool and the LMS of your client is the platform that launches it. The terms below are the ones you see on screen while setting that up. Each term links to the page where you use it.
Versions and standard
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| LTI | Learning Tools Interoperability, the standard for launching an external tool from an LMS and sending results back. The LMS sends the user and the course along with the launch, so the tool knows who is opening what. |
| LTI 1.1 (Legacy) | The older version of the standard. It works with almost every LMS, including older ones that use LTI 1.0 or 2.0. Your client only needs the Launch URL and the Secret. In Linqur this is the default when you create an LTI tool. |
| LTI 1.3 (Advantage) | The current version. It is more secure and adds grade services and deep linking. An LTI 1.3 tool has no secret: the LMS of your client has to be registered as a platform in Linqur first. |
| LTI Advantage | The set of services that comes with LTI 1.3: Deep Linking, Names and Role Provisioning Services (NRPS, for the names and roles of course members) and Assignment and Grade Services (AGS, for grades). In Linqur, LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage are one choice: LTI 1.3 (Advantage). |
| 1EdTech | The organisation that develops and maintains the LTI standard. It was called IMS Global before. |
| OAuth | The protocol LTI uses to sign and authorise the messages between the LMS and the tool. With LTI 1.1 the signature is made with the shared secret. With LTI 1.3 the platform registration takes that role. |
| Single sign-on (SSO) | One login for several applications. A learner who opens an LTI tool from the LMS doesn’t need a separate Linqur login: the LMS sends the user along with the launch, and Linqur creates the account on the first launch. |
Parties and roles
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Tool provider (tool) | The application that delivers the content. Linqur is the tool provider: every LTI tool you create in Linqur is a tool in this sense. LTI 1.3 just says “tool”. |
| Tool consumer | The LMS that launches the tool and sends the user and course data along, for example Moodle, Docebo or Pluvo. This is the LTI 1.1 term. |
| Platform | The LTI 1.3 term for the LMS. In Linqur you register the LMS of your client under Configuration > Registered platforms (LTI 1.3), see register an LTI 1.3 platform. Linqur can also be on the other side: under Consumer tools you add an external LTI tool to a course in Linqur. |
| LTI tool (in Linqur) | The link between content in a Linqur course and the LMS that opens it. You create a tool inside the course, one per client if you like, and Linqur gives you the launch details for that tool. See publish a SCORM package as an LTI tool. |
| Learning object | What an LTI tool publishes: one activity, such as a SCORM package, or the complete course as a learning path. On the create form this is the choice between Individual Activity and Complete Course, see LTI tool settings explained. |
| Roles | The role a user has in the LMS, sent along with the launch, such as Instructor, Student or Administrator. Linqur only supports the Student role for users who come in through an LTI tool, so you leave the role settings of a tool on the default. |
Keys and identifiers
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Secret (shared secret) | The key the LMS uses to authorise the launch of an LTI 1.1 tool. Treat it like a password. Linqur generates it per tool; you can change it and you can use the same secret for more than one tool. If you change it, your client has to update it in the LMS. LTI 1.3 tools don’t use a secret. See LTI tool settings explained. |
| Consumer key | With LTI 1.1, the LMS sends a key along with the secret. Any value works for Linqur, for example 123. Advise your client to use the same key for all Linqur tools in one LMS, otherwise the LMS creates a new user for every tool. See share the launch details of an LTI tool. |
| Signature | The signature in an LTI 1.1 launch is the value the LMS calculates with the secret, so Linqur can check that the launch is authentic. Not to be confused with the signature code on an error message: a long string that identifies the cause of the error, see LTI errors and their solutions. |
| Context ID | The identifier the LMS sends for the context in which the tool is launched, usually the course. |
| Resource link ID | The identifier for the specific place in the course where the tool was added. It tells the tool where in the LMS it is being used. |
| User ID | The identifier the LMS sends for the user who launches the tool, so the tool can tell learners apart. |
| Platform ID (issuer) | The address that identifies the LMS in an LTI 1.3 registration, for example https://lms.example.com. A combination of Platform ID and Client ID can only be registered once in Linqur. |
| Client ID | The ID the LMS gives to the Linqur tool when the administrator adds it. You enter it in the platform details of the registration. |
| Deployment ID | Generated by the LMS when the tool is made available, at registration or later for a course or category. Launches only work once that deployment ID is in Linqur, under Deployments of the registration. |
| Custom properties | Extra parameters the LMS sends along with the launch. For an LTI 1.3 tool, Linqur shows the Custom Properties on the Launch details tab; your client enters them in the LMS together with the Launch URL. |
URLs
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Launch URL | The address the LMS opens to start the tool. Every LTI tool in Linqur has its own, on the Launch details tab of the tool. See share the launch details of an LTI tool. |
| Registration URL | Linqur uses this name for two things. For an LTI 1.1 tool, some LMS platforms register the tool with a registration URL instead of the Launch URL and the Secret; it’s under Advanced launch details of the tool. For an LTI 1.3 platform, the Registration URL is the link for dynamic registration: the LMS administrator pastes it in the LMS and the platform details are filled in automatically. That URL contains a token, so share it only with that administrator. |
| Cartridge URL | The address of a cartridge file (Common Cartridge) that an LMS can import to add an LTI 1.1 tool, instead of entering the launch details by hand. Under Advanced launch details of the tool. |
| Tool URL | For manual registration of an LTI 1.3 platform: the address the LMS uses to launch Linqur tools. |
| Initiate login URL | For manual registration: the login address for this registration. It ends with the id of the registration, so every registration has its own. |
| JWKS URL | For manual registration: the address where the LMS finds the public keys of Linqur. |
| Deep linking URL | For manual registration: only fill this in if the LMS asks for a deep linking or content selection URL. |
| Authentication request URL, Public keyset URL, Access token URL | The details of the LMS that you enter in Linqur for manual registration, together with the Platform ID and Client ID: where Linqur sends the login request, where it finds the public keys of the LMS, and where it requests access tokens. The LMS administrator gives you these. See register an LTI 1.3 platform. |
Services and functions
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Outcome service | The LTI service with which the tool sends a grade back to the LMS. Whether Linqur sends a grade is a setting per tool: Grade synchronisation. |
| Grade synchronisation | Setting of an LTI tool: whether the LMS receives the grade from the learning object. On by default. On the create form this is Grade Sync. See LTI tool settings explained. |
| User synchronisation | Setting of an LTI tool: whether a scheduled task enrols and unenrols users based on the LMS. Only LMS platforms that support this can use it. On the create form this is Member Sync. |
| Deep linking | Part of LTI Advantage. The tool sends links to specific content back to the LMS, so a teacher can add one item instead of the general entry page of the tool. In Linqur the Deep linking URL is only needed when the LMS asks for it. |
| SCORM dispatch | The term the market uses for sharing a SCORM package with another platform without handing over the file itself. In Linqur this feature is called SCORM Proxy: you create a SCORM wrapper per client. See getting started with SCORM wrappers. |
Related
- Where the terms turn up as fields: LTI tool settings explained.
- Where a Launch URL and a Secret come from: publish a SCORM package as an LTI tool.
- The LTI 1.3 side: register an LTI 1.3 platform.
- If a launch fails: LTI errors and their solutions.
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