Information Technology Services (ITS) is excited to announce an updated process for Brightspace integrations that aims to:

  • Reduce the technical burden on faculty
  • Save time

Starting in August 2024, ITS will handle the addition of all LTI integrations to Brightspace. Throughout the Fall semester, we will upgrade older LTI 1.1 integrations to the current LTI 1.3 standard. These steps are designed to ensure the security of faculty intellectual property and student private information. ITS will support you throughout the integration configuration and migration process.

Image illustrating integration concept

We encourage the submission of integration requests during July or early August to ensure the review process is completed before the upcoming semester. ITS will be sending out further communication in the coming days, along with opportunities to connect with our team, answer questions, and address concerns. Please do not hesitate to reach out. In the meantime, you may submit a support desk ticket here, attend an ITS Zoom drop-in, or visit us in the Carothers Library, Room 227, during business hours.

About LTI

Integrating third-party applications into URI’s learning management system (LMS), Brightspace, provides faculty and students with new and exciting ways to engage with their learning. These integrations are often accomplished using the Learning Tools Interoperability, commonly known as LTI, standard.

LTI integrations offer enhanced security, streamlined administration, and valuable data sharing between Brightspace and third-party applications. For a number of years, LTI has used the 1.1 standard, which provided basic functions such as streamlined student logins, links to content, grade pass-back… and a baseline level of security. The newest LTI standard, 1.3, builds upon these strengths and offers a significantly more modern security framework, ensuring better protection of student and faculty data as it passes between systems.

On top of LTI 1.3 is a set of tools called LTI Advantage. LTI Advantage leverages all the security capabilities of LTI 1.3 and adds functional improvements such as:

Automated Roster Creation:
See which students are in your class and who has registered with the third-party tool.

Enhanced Assignments and Grades: View the status of an assignment instead of just passing a single numeric grade back to Brightspace.

Deep Linking: Set up links to specific parts of a third-party tool (e.g., a chapter in a book), whereas LTI 1.1 only allowed links to the tool as a whole.

It’s important to note that not every third-party application supports all the functions described here. Some only offer LTI 1.1 connections, others LTI 1.3, and some offer a combination of LTI Advantage enhancements. After a requested integration is approved, the IT Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) team will collaborate with the vendor to configure the integration and leverage all available tools.

Please connect with the TLS team via a Service Desk ticket to start enhancing your courses with LTI integrations.

Sources:

Clark, J. (2023, September 1). What is LTI advantage? – edlink. Edlink Community. https://ed.link/community/lti-advantage/#:~:text=LTI%20Advantage%20is%20a%20set,Deep%20Linking.

Clark, J. (2023a, March 8). LTI advantage explained – Edlink. Edlink Community. https://ed.link/community/eli5-lti-advantage/

Learning tools interoperability. Learning Tools Interoperability | IMS Global Learning Consortium. (n.d.). https://www.imsglobal.org/activity/learning-tools-interoperability