Create Activities with Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)

Pearson allows administrators to integrate entire domains with Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) tools, so teachers and other course authors can link to LTI activities.

This article covers how course authors can link to individual LTI activities within a course for both LTI 1.1 and LTI 1.3 activities. An example, using Turnitin as the LTI, is provided at the bottom of the article. 

Create LTI 1.1 activities

To create activities with LTI 1.1, the LTI service must provide you with:

• The website to which you should point the activity (the hostname).
• An LTI Key and LTI Secret or an LTI Configuration XML. If the LTI is configured at the Domain, you don't need to use this here.

Add the activity

1. Add an activity to the desired folder and choose the Custom Activity type.
2. In the Custom Activity editor, select Website under the Content card of the Activity tab.
3. In the field below, enter the provide the URL provided by the LTI service you're using.
4. Enter the Key and Secret in the appropriate fields, or
   Click Load LTI configuration and paste the Configuration XML information into its field and click Parse XML to automatically populate the Key and Secret fields.
   Note: If your LTI is configured at the Domain, you don't have to complete these fields.
   
5. Select Save when you finish making other edits to your activity.

Note: If you check the Popup in a new window box for the activity, users are prompted to navigate to the new window. If you link to this activity from another activity, users are not prompted and a new window is opened.

Configure the activity

Once you've created the assignment, open the Activities tool. For some LTI services like Turnitin, the LTI service's dashboard is open, where you can configure your assignment. If not, you can build the activity using the service's website, and opening it here allows you to preview the activity.

Consult the LTI service's directions for activity creation.

Create LTI 1.3 activities

You can create LTI 1.3 activities in three ways:

• Create LTI activities in a course using the tool's URL (like api.turnitin.com) as the activity's content and checking the Digitally sign this activity for LTI checkbox (same as 1.1).
• Import LTI-link activities from an IMS Common Cartridge file that a tool-provider provides.
  Create LTI links in a course using the Add activity screen if the LTI 1.3 tool supports Deep Linking.

Create LTI links in a course

To create LTI links using the Add activity screen, the tool must:

• Support Deep Linking.
• Be integrated either at the domain by an administrator, or at the course by a teacher.

Configure Course settings for LTI 1.3 tools

If the LTI 1.3 tool is not configured at the domain, you have to first configure the LTI 1.3 tool in Course settings:

1. Select Add on the External tools (LTI 1.3) card.
2. Provide the following:
   Tool Title as you want it to appear.
   A Description of the tool.
   A DNS Tool hostname (such as api.turnitin.com).
   The following fields are provided by the tool: ClientID, OpenID connect login URL, Tool key set URL, Tool redirect URL.
3. In the User data sent at launch dropdown, check the boxes next to the user data you want included:
   Given name
   Family name
   Display name
   Email
   In the LTI services dropdown, check the boxes next to the services included in the tool:
   Assignment and grade
   Names and role provisioning
   Deep linking
4. Select Done and Save.
5. Deep link the activity.
   

Deep linking LTI 1.3 activities

If an LTI 1.3 tool supports Deep Linking and is configured at the domain or at the course level, you can create LTI links in a course using the Add activity screen.

1. Select the External tools tab in the Add activity screen if an LTI tool that allows creating activities is configured in your domain. 
2. Select the tool (Tii sandbox in this example) to launch its activity creation screen from the tool vendor's site.  
   
3. Create your activity and add it to your course. The new LTI activities are then created, so you can customize them with Gradebook, visibility, due-date, or any other settings in the Activity editor.  
   

Note: Each vendor's activity creation tool is different; this example shows TurnItIn's tool. Some LTIs, like Turnitin, don't trigger a notification when a student submits an assignment. To make sure you know when your students have submitted an LTI activity, create a companion activity that asks students to Mark this activity complete once they've submitted the LTI activity.