If you’re responsible for organizing learning and development within your organization, you’ve likely come across the term 'LTI'. Learning Tools Interoperability, or LTI, plays a vital role in the education market. But what does it actually mean, and what are its benefits? This blog will answer all your LTI-related questions. Let’s start with the definition.
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a technical standard created by 1edtech. With LTI, you can easily connect various online (external) learning resources to a central learning environment, without the hassle of separate login credentials or standalone platforms. It ensures everything is accessible in one place, making it simpler for both employers and employees to work with various external providers within their existing learning environment. LTI enables training providers and organizations with a learning platform to seamlessly integrate external learning resources into onboarding, training paths, or compliance programs.
Imagine a training provider has developed an online course and wants to make it available within an organization’s learning platform. This organization uses a Learning Management System (LMS) to manage all courses and training materials.
Thanks to LTI, the training provider can connect their course, hosted on their own platform, to the organization’s LMS. The organization’s employees can then access the course directly through their familiar LMS, without needing to visit the provider’s platform or log in separately.
When an employee starts the course via the LMS, LTI ensures that the training provider receives the necessary information, such as the employee's identity and the specific training they are undertaking. The provider can track the employee’s progress on their platform, such as completed quizzes or watched videos. This data is automatically sent back to the organization’s LMS, allowing managers or the HR department to monitor and assess progress without ever needing to access the provider’s platform. This means that both the provider and the employer can view the employees' progress and results, but the employer can conveniently see all data within their own LMS.
This setup enables the organization to easily offer the course via their LMS, while the provider retains full control over the content, participant numbers, and management of the course, all thanks to the LTI integration.
LTI was created to simplify and streamline the use of different digital learning tools. Before LTI, employees and employers often had to log in to multiple platforms and manage external learning resources separately, which was confusing and time-consuming. Additionally, integrating external learning resources into existing learning environments was technically challenging.
LTI was developed to address this issue by providing a standard that allows learning tools and resources to be easily linked to existing learning platforms, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS). With LTI, organizations can seamlessly integrate various educational tools, so users can access all necessary resources in one place with a single login. This not only enhances user-friendliness but also improves the efficiency of the learning process.
The standardization that LTI brings offers a wide range of benefits that are indispensable for the end-user of the learning platform, the external trainer, and the internal L&D/HR specialist.
LTI makes it possible to easily integrate various educational tools and apps into one learning environment. This way, users don’t need to log in separately to multiple platforms, saving time and simplifying the learning process.
Users don’t have to switch between learning platforms or online environments when accessing learning content from different external providers. This improves the user experience and increases the chances of success for the learning strategy.
HR and L&D managers can easily link and manage external tools from within their existing Learning Management System (LMS) without needing complex technical knowledge. This makes it easier for educational institutions to implement new digital learning resources.
With LTI, a single login is used, reducing the risk of data breaches due to multiple logins. Additionally, many LTI standards ensure secure data transfer between systems.
With LTI, developers don’t need to create complex custom solutions to integrate tools into existing systems, saving both time and money.
Because LTI is a standardized solution, you can easily add new tools and technologies as needs grow, without complex integration projects. This makes it simple for training providers to connect new organizations and assign multiple clients to a course.
Since 1edtech launched the 1.0 version of LTI in 2010, LTI has evolved, and today, two main versions of LTI are in use: LTI 1.0 and LTI 1.3. The most recent version has been available since 2019 and continues to be developed. Both versions aim to make learning tools more accessible and easier to manage, but they differ in important areas, particularly in terms of security and functionality.
The biggest differences between LTI 1.0 and LTI 1.3 lie in security and user-friendliness. LTI 1.0 uses an older security standard: OAuth 1.0. In contrast, LTI 1.3 uses OAuth 2.0 and JSON Web Tokens (JWT), providing a more secure and efficient way of exchanging data. Additionally, LTI 1.3 offers new features such as Deep Linking, which allows content to be managed directly from the learning platform, and Grade Passback, where results are automatically sent back to the LMS. These improvements make LTI 1.3 more flexible and user-friendly than its predecessor.
Want to learn more about the technical differences and benefits of LTI 1.3? Read our in-depth article on the differences between the two LTI versions, where we delve deeper into the specifics of each version.
Cas van Lier is our textual ace, in other words: our copywriter. He ensures that the essence of Linqur is conveyed as effectively as possible through fresh and convincing content. When Cas isn’t at the keyboard, he’s often found at the beach or in the woods with his girlfriend and dog.
