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Course Settings - Tab Share:
Configure LTI access to a course

OpenOlat allows other LMS to access individual OpenOlat courses via LTI. This means that your OpenOlat courses can also be visited by people who work on another LMS.

Example:
An OpenOlat course is launched from Moodle via LTI 1.3. When the course is opened, the persons are created in OpenOlat as LTI accounts and get access to the OpenOlat course (in the role of participant or coach).
You can find detailed instructions here.

Requirements

Requirements in system administration

The external platform is registered in the system administration of OpenOlat, which requires administrator access (in OpenOlat, this can also be the System administrator role). On the other side, administrator access to the other LMS is required as well. Who may create the LTI share of a course is set in the system administration: Who can add deployments? Preferably, the configuration takes place on both systems at the same time, as certain dialogs have to be configured in both systems in direct succession.

Requirements in the LTI share of a course

The LTI share allows a specific external platform, for example Moodle, to launch this one course via LTI 1.3. Without a share, OpenOlat rejects every LTI call for the course, even if the platform is set up in the administration.

One deployment ID for several courses

If you offer several OpenOlat courses on the same platform, the platform often sends the same deployment ID for all of them. This happens when the platform runs the tool as a shared deployment. A platform running OpenOlat does this automatically as soon as an "LTI page" course element or its course is copied there. Each OpenOlat course can still be shared with this deployment ID, no second tool is needed on the platform.

Enter the deployment ID in the LTI share of every course the platform should reach. Within the same course, a deployment ID can be used only once per platform. A second attempt ends with the message "Deployment ID must be unique for a specific platform and course."

OpenOlat recognizes which course to open from the address the platform sends with the call. In Moodle, this is the "Tool URL" of the external tool. This address must begin with the "Tool URL" that OpenOlat shows in the dialog after clicking "Add deployment". If the address matches no shared course, OpenOlat cancels the call instead of opening another course.

A copied OpenOlat course does not take over the LTI share of the original. It needs its own LTI share, even if the platform uses the same deployment ID.

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What information is exchanged between the two systems?

With every call, Moodle sends information about the person and the course context to OpenOlat. OpenOlat sends only one thing back: the course result of the person.

From Moodle to OpenOlat

Moodle sends a signed token (LTI 1.3 launch). OpenOlat reads the following information from it:

Information What OpenOlat needs it for
Issuer and user ID This is how OpenOlat recognizes the person again. The combination is stored as LTI authentication.
First name, last name, e-mail address The user account is created from these. For LTI-only accounts, the values are updated with every call.
Language Is only adopted as the language setting of the account when the account is created.
LTI roles Determine whether the person becomes coach or participant.
Deployment ID and Tool URL Show which shared course or which group is meant. If the same deployment ID applies to several courses, the Tool URL decides.
Context ID and resource link ID Identifier of the Moodle course and of the activity in it.
Addresses of the Moodle services for grades and member lists OpenOlat stores them per Moodle course.

From OpenOlat to Moodle

If the assessment of a person in the course changes, OpenOlat sends the result of the course as a whole to Moodle's grading service (Assignment and Grade Services). Individual course elements are not transferred. The following are transferred:

  • the user ID from Moodle
  • the score achieved
  • the maximum score (100 if none is defined)
  • the activity progress and the grading progress
  • the comment on the assessment
  • the timestamp

The result is only sent if Moodle has sent the address of a single grade column with the call. It goes to the Moodle platform through which the person is logged in.

What is not exchanged

  • Member lists: OpenOlat stores the address of the names and roles service, but never queries it. Members are therefore only added when they open the course themselves.
  • List of grade columns: This address is also only stored.
  • Course content: It remains in OpenOlat and is displayed there.

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Which role do people get who open an OpenOlat course from Moodle?

With every LTI share of a course, OpenOlat creates an LTI group. All persons accessing externally via LTI are added to this group.

Through the group, the persons are then (group) coach or (group) participant in the course. Which of the two roles they get is decided by the LTI role that Moodle sends with the call.

LTI role in Moodle Course role in OpenOlat
Instructor (course role or role in the institution) becomes group coach in the LTI group
Mentor becomes group coach of the LTI group
Learner or any other role becomes group participant

Nobody becomes course owner via LTI.

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Configuration procedure

  1. Setup "External Tool" in Moodle
  2. Setup "external platform" in OpenOlat
  3. LTI share of the course in OpenOlat
  4. Embedding the external tool (=OpenOlat) in the Moodle course
  5. Connection test

You can find detailed instructions with these 5 steps here.

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How and where are the results displayed?

External courses in the assessment tool

The assessment form can also be filled in and adjusted for the LTI course element. Select the course element in the course editor. In the tab "Page content", "Transfer score" must be selected. Depending on the case, a scaling factor must also be entered and the score for passing must be defined. You can find more information on configuring LTI pages here.

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Further information

Mentioned on this page
How do I integrate an OpenOlat course into Moodle? >
LTI 1.3 Integrations >
Course Element "LTI Page" >

Further reading
Configure LTI access to a group >
LTI - External Platforms >
LTI - External tools >
LTI - Deep Linking >
LTI - Role mapping >
Course settings - Tab Share >
Members management >
Assessment tool - overview >
Access configuration >

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