LTI Advantage Toolkit for Higher Education Institutions
About This Toolkit
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An overview and value statement of LTI 1.3 and the services that make up LTI Advantage
- Sample language that Higher Education institutions can use to allow suppliers to communicate their intention to adopt LTI Advantage and achieve 1EdTech certification at the next opportunity in their development/release cycle.
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An open letter, signed and endorsed by more than 20 leading Higher Education institutions, on the importance of standards, the adoption of LTI Advantage by suppliers, and committing to set 1EdTech certification as a procurement requirement.
- A sample letter of language Higher Education institutions can use in communicating their commitment to requiring 1EdTech certification to technology suppliers.
- Sample language that Higher Education institutions can use in RFPs or other procurement agreements stating 1EdTech certification as a requirement for consideration of technology solutions.
- An example of the detailed functional requirements Higher Education institutions can use when evaluating learning management systems and similar platforms, including consideration of standards certification and compliance.
- An ELI briefing document in the “7 Things You Should Know About…” series
- A one-page benefit statement to help institutions understand and articulate the value of LTI Advantage to the user experience.
About This Toolkit
Background
What are LTI and LTI Advantage and Why are they Important for HED?
Learning Tools Interoperability, or LTI as it is more commonly known, is a standard developed by 1EdTech Consortium. Its primary purpose is to seamlessly connect platforms—such as learning management systems—with cloud-based, external, or locally-hosted tools and content provided by a third-party edtech supplier. LTI moves the user (such as a student) from the learning platform into the tool while maintaining a high level of security for passing data about the user, the place they come from, and their role (e.g., faculty, student, TA, etc.). The tools can range from simple communication applications such as chat to domain-specific learning environments such as publisher products. In other words, if you have an interactive assessment application or virtual chemistry lab, it can be securely connected to the learning environment in a standard way without having to develop and maintain custom integrations for each platform and tool.
LTI Advantage is a package of key LTI services that build on LTI version 1.3 (or higher when available) to implement features that support essential teaching and learning activities. Currently, LTI Advantage includes three services: Assignment and Grade Services, Deep Linking, and Names and Role Provisioning Services. LTI Advantage instantly and securely connects teachers and students to digital learning objects, assessments, apps and tools for better usability and actionable data; enabling the foundation for next-generation digital learning.
Privacy and Security
LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage are the first standards to leverage the new 1EdTech Security Framework adopts the industry standard protocol IETF OAuth 2.0 for authentication services along with JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for secure message signing and adopts the Open ID Connect workflow paradigm. Learn more about LTI Advantage Security.
1EdTech Certification
To ensure that your educational technology ecosystem is interoperable, it is recommended that you require 1EdTech conformance certification as part of your procurement process and RFP documents.
What is the difference between 1EdTech certified LTI and LTI Advantage platforms and tools, and those that claim to "conform" to the LTI and LTI Advantage standards?
- Have successfully implemented LTI Advantage security policies,
- Are interoperable with other LTI Advantage certified tools and/or platforms, and
- Correctly implement LTI Advantage prescribed standards and services.
