What is LTI v1.3 and why should I bother moving to LTI v1.3?
Answer - LTI v1.3 is a version upgrade to already working LTI integration v1.1. There are many benefits of using LTI 1.3 :
- Enhanced Security: LTI 1.3 offers stronger security mechanisms, including OAuth 2.0 authentication and token-based access, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.
- Custom Parameters: LTI 1.3 allows passing custom parameters between the LMS and external tools, facilitating personalized learning experiences and better integration possibilities.
- Improved Grade Passback: Grade passback in LTI 1.3 is more reliable and standardized, allowing for accurate grade reporting between the tool and the LMS.
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Future-Proofing: LTI 1.3 is the latest version of the standard, aligning your tool with the latest advancements in interoperability and learning technology.
Upgrading to LTI 1.3 ensures better security, user experience, and compatibility with modern Learning Management Systems.
We recommend moving from the previous LTI version to keep up with the latest improvements in LTI integrations.
I have two environments using the LTI v1.1, Production and Staging environments using the same LMS. If I move one of the environments to LTI v1.3 would it affect integrations of the other environment?
Answer - Every server has its own configuration on LMS, mostly based on the domain of each server integrated with LMS. So changing LTI configuration for one server on an LMS system should not affect other servers.
(In case of any unexpected link breakage, please DO NOT try to delete and recreate placements on LMS, it will break all associated links permanently.)
What has been changed in Tk20 LTI UI pages with LTI v1.3?
Answer - A new submenu tab has been introduced to setup the LTI v1.3 in Tk20, you can find it under Administrator > LTI Tool Provider Setup
- LTI Legacy (v1.1) tab will display all information and configurations related to LTI 1.1.
- LTI Advantage (v1.3) tab will display all information and configurations related to LTI 1.3.
- LTI Logs tab can be used to generate logs related to LTI interactions with the LMS system.
- User field matching is made default to email in LTI v1.3 in Tk20 and there is no need to add user mapping in LTI 1.3 setup.
- Copy feature has been provided to make it easy to copy the configuration information for LTI configuration
I do not see user matching field value definitions 1.3 integration setup screen. Do I need to add a user definition?
Answer - In LTI 1.3 user definitions default to email only, which means users can be matched with Tk20 system using the email passed from the LMS system and this behavior is by default and cannot be changed in LTI 1.3. So there is no need to add a user definition for the LTI 1.3 setup.
Will I require Tk20 dev/support to execute the LTI version upgrade for my server?
Answer- All the steps involved in migrating from LTI 1.1 to 1.3 can be performed from the admin account itself and no developer intervention should be required.
Once you have configured LTI 1.3 please Submit a Request to the Support team so that we can add your LMS URLs to our security allowlist, you will be required to share the below URLs from LMS systems for whitelisting.
- Issuer
- Public keyset URL
- Auth token endpoint
- OIDC auth request endpoint
We recommend testing the LTI v1.3 on stage/testing environment before any changes to the production environment.
What will happen to all my existing links LTI v1.1 after configuring LTI v1.3 on my LMS and Tk20 system?
Answer- It depends on the LMS, some LMS links both v1.1 and v1.3 work simultaneously, but some only support one version at a time.
Here is the specification from IMS Global for each LMS stance after upgrading to LTI v1.3.
In summary, your previously setup links work for Canvas, Moodle, and D2L but Blackboard upgrades all existing and previous links to LTI v1.3 once LTI v1.3 is configured for the server(domain) on Blackboard and it only allows v1.3 of LTI to work, which means all previously created links of LTI v1.1 will stop working due to below reasons
- Change in launch URL, as launch urls are different for v1.1 and v1.3 in Tk20. (Launch urls details can be checked under Administration > LTI Tool Provider Setup > LTI Legacy (v1.1) and LTI Advantage (v1.3) tabs under the Integration Information section.)
- Custom parameters requirements with LTI v1.3. Most LMS only support custom parameters for transferring values from LMS to Tk20 which also breaks the data flow when links get auto-migrated from v1.1 to v1.3 on LMS side.
Is there any workaround to fix existing broken LTI v1.1 links after migration to LTI v1.3 with Blackboard?
Answer - It's still possible but we do not recommend that approach because of the manual efforts you may have to put in to fix the links.
Existing links stop working in Blackboard, due to auto migration from v1.1 to v1.3, which can be fixed by updating the placements in Blackboard with the launch URL provided for v1.3 and adding the parameters to the custom parameters field instead of query parameters in the URL. for the exact steps
If you want to use this method to fix broken v1.1 links with Blackboard, please check this article: How to fix LTI v1.1 broken for the exact steps