Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. The standard allows platforms such as Aula to integrate with various educational tools to provide a more streamlined and integrated experience for students and educators alike.
While the LTI standards refer to platforms (e.g. Aula) and tools (e.g. Engageli), the Aula product refers to tools as integrations.
In this article, you will find general guidance on adding integrations to Aula as well as specific guidance for tools that we have experience integrating for our institutions.
Note
You will require administrator access to your instance of Aula to add or modify integrations. If you do not have access, reach out to those who manage your Aula instance.
Adding a New Integration in Aula
- Navigate to the administration dashboard for your institution. The URL should be https://admin.{your-institution}.aula.education
- Open the menu at the top left and select Integrations. You will see the list of integrations that are available for your institution
- To create a new integration, click the Add integration button at the top right. You will be shown a modal prompting you to enter details for your integration. The options will change depending on the LTI version you select.
LTI 1.3 Configuration Guide (Recommended)
For an LTI 1.3 integration you will need to enter the following details:
- Target URL (sometimes called “Tool URL” or similar)
- Login URL (sometimes called “Initiate login URL” or similar)
- Keyset URL (sometimes called “Key URL” or similar)
- 1 or more Redirect URIs (sometimes called “Redirection URL” or similar). To add multiple Redirect URIs, click the Add redirect URI button.
This information should be provided by your tool vendor. Consult the tool documentation or reach out to one of their technical representatives to help locate this information.
The tool may require one or more Custom Parameters. See below for more details.
LTI 1.1 Configuration Guide
For an LTI 1.1 integration you will need to enter the following details:
- URL (sometimes called “Target URL”, “Tool URL” or similar)
- Consumer Key (sometimes called “Key” or similar)
- Shared Secret (sometimes called “Secret” or similar)
This information should be provided by your tool vendor. Consult the tool documentation or reach out to one of their technical representatives to help locate this information.
The tool may require one or more Custom parameters. See the section below for more details.
Custom Parameters
Custom parameters allow you to provide additional information to a tool when it is launched from Aula. It is often necessary to add one or more such parameters when configuring LTI tools.
The specific values for any custom parameters vary from tool to tool. Consult the documentation for your tool or reach out to one of their technical representatives to find out what custom parameters you might need to suit your institution.
- Click Add custom parameter
- Enter a Name. It must be something that is supported by the tool you are using such as keep_test_title for example
- Select a Value from the drop-down list. The table below explains each of the values or
- Click Other to enter a static value. If you select this option, you will be prompted to enter the value in text.
- Once you have entered the configuration details and any custom parameters, click the Next button to move to the next step.
| Value | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
user.id |
Aula’s internal identifier for the current user. Since this identifier is internal to Aula, it often won’t be recognised by external tools. Typically user.externalId is more suitable as a global identifier |
9d0a956c-a39f-4708-ba25-bbd49b26a781 |
user.email |
The email address for the current user | sue.smith@example.com |
user.externalId |
An external identifier for the current user as set via the Aula Import API | The specific value depends on what was passed to the Aula Import API. It could be a username, an email address or some other unique identifier |
user.username |
This is the same value as user.email
|
sue.smith@example.com |
user.custom.studentId |
The student ID provided for the current user as set via the Aula Import API | The specific value depends on what was passed to the Aula Import API. It could be a username, an email address or some other unique identifier |
space.id |
Aula’s internal identifier for the current space. Since this identifier is internal to Aula, it often won’t be recognised by external tools, but can still prove useful as a unique identifier for the space | 9b7629dd-1abd-419e-a527-c7a279ddf652 |
space.externalId |
An external identifier for the current space as set via the Aula Import API | The specific value depends on what was passed to the Aula Import API. |
space.code |
A code for the current space as set via the Aula Import API | The specific value depends on what was passed to the Aula Import API |
space.startDate |
The start date for the current space as set via the Aula Import API. ISO 8601 formatted |
|
space.endDate |
The end date for the current space as set via the Aula Import API. ISO 8601 formatted | 2024-04-24T16:31:32.873Z |
Appearance and Permissions
Here you will find an explanation of what the following means:
- Name: this is the name that will appear within Aula when students and educators interact with the tool. Where this name appears depends on the integration availability option selected for the tool (this will be covered later). It usually makes sense to use the name of the tool here.
- Icon URL (optional): This allows you to customise the icon given to the integration within Aula. It can help students and educators if they see an icon they are already familiar with. The size of the icon linked does not matter as it will be scaled down when displayed within Aula.
- Launch container: This controls whether the tool should launch in a new tab, or will be rendered within the page (Embedded). For LTI 1.3 Aula only currently supports launching tools in a new tab.
- Enable deep linking (LTI 1.3 only): this controls whether the tool will use the LTI deep linking specification to allow educators to select content within the tool. Consult the tool documentation to see if this is supported.
- Permissions (LTI 1.3 only): by enabling the “Can retrieve participants of the space” permission you grant the tool permission to read the members of the current space when it is launched. This is achieved using the LTI Names and Roles Provisions specification (sometimes called the “Membership service”). Consult the tool documentation to see if this is supported or required.
- Disable integration: makes the integration unavailable in Aula. We recommend that you disable LTI 1.3 integrations until the configuration has been completed within the tool. See Disabling a custom integration in Aula for more details.
Once you have configured the appearance and permissions for the tool, click the Next button to move to the next step.
Integration Availability: LTI 1.3 Only
When configuring an integration in Aula, you can choose to make the tool available within the editor (Community Feed and Materials), or as a new option when creating an assignment.
- Materials: It gives the educators the ability to add LTI blocks for this integration to materials and/or posts within Aula. Students will then be able to click on these blocks to launch the relevant content within the tool.
- Assignments: This makes the integration available as an option when creating assignments in Aula. In order for this to work, the tool must support the LTI 1.3 Assignment and Grade Services. if you are unsure, consult the documentation provided by your tool vendor.
Assignment Parameters
Assignment LTI tools typically assume one of two models that determine the lifecycle of assignments:
-
Coupled: The assignment details are first captured in Aula and sent to the tool on launch, where an equivalent assignment will be created
-
Decoupled: The assignment is created first in the tool and the details are sent back to Aula, where an equivalent assignment is created
In both cases, the assignment is linked between Aula and the tool through a common Resource Link. In Aula, if one or more custom assignment parameters are configured, then the coupled model is assumed. Otherwise, the decoupled model is assumed. If in doubt, speak to your tool vendor to clarify what their requirements are.
Note
The decoupled model usually results in a better user-experience so should be preferred where supported by your tool.
Custom assignment parameters are much like standard custom parameters, but the available options are populated by a form that educators complete when creating an assignment in Aula.
| Value | Meaning | Example |
| assignment.startDate | The start date of the assignment in Aula, also referred to as the “Open date”. ISO 8601 formatted | 2024-04-24T16:31:32.873Z |
| assignment.endDate | The end date of the assignment in Aula, also referred to as the “Due date”. ISO 8601 formatted | 2024-04-24T16:31:32.873Z |
| assignment.gradesReleasedAt | The date when grades will be made available to students in Aula. ISO 8601 formatted | 2024-04-24T16:31:32.873Z |
As with standard custom parameters, you can also select the option Other to enter a static value. If you select this option, you will be prompted to enter the value in text. This value will be included as a custom parameter on launch, but will not appear on the form that is shown to educators when they create an assignment.
Issuer, Client ID and Deployment ID: LTI 1.3 Only
After you finished configuring an LTI 1.3 integration in Aula, you will be shown some important configuration details that you will need in order to complete the configuration within the tool itself. Make a note of the Issuer, the Client ID and Deployment ID and either complete the configuration in the tool yourself, or provide them to the tool vendor as necessary.
If you need to consult these values later, you can view them by opening the modal for editing the integration.
Note
The Client ID and Deployment ID are unique and are generated each time an integration is created. If you delete an integration from Aula and replace it with an identical one, a new Client ID and Deployment ID will be generated and the corresponding configuration within the tool will need to be updated.
Additional Configuration Details
Some tools may require additional settings beyond those mentioned above:
-
Public Keyset URL (sometimes called "Keyset URL" or similar):
https://apiv2.{your-institution}.aula.education/lti/1p3/keys -
Access Token URL (sometimes called "Token URL" or similar):
https://apiv2.{your-institution}.aula.education/lti/1p3/token -
Authentication Request URL (sometimes called "Auth URL" or similar):
https://apiv2.{your-institution}.aula.education/lti/1p3/auth
Replacing {your-instituion} with the unique sub-domain for your instance of Aula (the same value that appears in the URL students and educators use to access the main web application:https://{your-institution}.aula.education).