What is LTI?
Also called: Learning Tools Interoperability · LTI 1.3 · LTI AdvantageDefinition
LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is a standard from 1EdTech, formerly IMS Global Learning Consortium, that lets a learning platform such as an LMS launch an external tool, such as a content library, assessment engine or virtual lab, with a single click. The platform passes the user’s identity, role and course context securely, so the learner does not log in again. The current version, LTI 1.3, uses OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect and signed JSON Web Tokens.
LTI has two sides: the platform (usually the LMS) and the tool (the external application). An administrator registers the tool once with the platform, exchanging keys and endpoints. After that, when a learner clicks a link, the platform sends a signed launch message identifying the user, their role and the course, and the tool opens already knowing who they are. LTI Advantage adds services on top of LTI 1.3: Deep Linking (choosing specific content from the tool), Assignment and Grade Services (sending scores back to the platform gradebook) and Names and Role Provisioning Services (sharing the course roster).
For corporate L&D, LTI matters when you combine systems: a coding lab, an assessment platform or a content library used from inside the main LMS, with scores flowing back. Unlike SCORM, the content stays on the provider’s system, so it can be updated centrally and can do things a SCORM package cannot.
Common mistakes: integrating with LTI 1.1, which uses older OAuth 1.0a signing and has been deprecated by 1EdTech, instead of LTI 1.3; and assuming LTI moves content or completion data the way SCORM does, when grade return depends on the tool supporting Assignment and Grade Services. Bodhih LMS offers LTI in its Enterprise band, and LTI 1.3 launch of Bodhih pathways from other platforms is on the roadmap.
Key points
- Maintained by 1EdTech (formerly IMS Global Learning Consortium).
- Two roles: platform (launches) and tool (is launched).
- LTI 1.3 uses OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect and signed JWTs.
- LTI Advantage adds Deep Linking, Assignment and Grade Services, and Names and Role Provisioning Services.
- Content stays on the tool provider’s system; LTI 1.1 is deprecated.
An example at work
A Mumbai bank uses its main LMS for compliance training but runs Python practice in an external coding-lab tool. Through LTI 1.3, analysts click “Start lab” in the LMS, arrive in the lab already signed in, and their lab score is returned to the LMS gradebook.
Where this is used at Bodhih
Related terms
Learning management system
A learning management system (LMS) is software that delivers, assigns, tracks and reports on training, from e-learning courses to classroom sessions and certifications.
SCORM
SCORM is a set of technical standards that lets e-learning content packaged by one tool run and report progress inside any compliant learning management system.
Single sign-on
Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication method that lets people use one corporate login, such as Microsoft Entra ID or Okta, to access many applications.
xAPI
xAPI is an e-learning standard that records learning experiences as “actor, verb, object” statements sent to a learning record store, inside or outside an LMS.
More about LTI
What is the difference between LTI and SCORM?
SCORM packages content so it can be uploaded into and run from an LMS. LTI connects an LMS to an external tool that keeps running on the provider’s own servers, passing user identity and, with LTI Advantage, returning grades. SCORM moves the content; LTI links to it.
What is LTI 1.3?
LTI 1.3 is the current core version of Learning Tools Interoperability from 1EdTech. It replaced the OAuth 1.0a signing of LTI 1.1 with OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect and signed JSON Web Tokens, and is the base for the LTI Advantage services such as grade return and deep linking.