Why configure Inspera with LTI 1.3 in your LMS
LTI allows the LMS to connect with external learning tools, such as Inspera, easily and securely. The connection supports the LMS by passing information in a standards-based way to Inspera. These include the role of that user (instructor or candidate) and the course. If the user is an instructor they will be able to create/edit/grade a test in Inspera. If it’s a candidate they will be able to take the test or access the candidate report. It can also create user accounts in Inspera upon launch, acting as both a registration and single sign-on (SSO) launch in one easy workflow. Additionally, LTI 1.3 supports returning marks from Inspera to the LMS gradebook.
The LMS needs to configure the LTI 1.3 communication before teachers and students can start using it.
What you can do with LTI
As Teachers
- Create the test in the LMS and automatically create it in IA
- You still have to configure the test in IA (like the question set and grade) and activate it before students can take it
- The settings that can be configured in the LMS are:
- Title
- Start and end time (via custom parameters)
- If it is an assessment parent or child, if applicable (via custom parameters)
- Template on which the test should be based, if applicable (via custom parameters)
- Candidates extra time (via custom parameters)
- Launch the test through the LMS to edit it in IA (before activation)
- Launch the test through the LMS to grade it in IA
- Launch the test through the LMS to monitor it in IA
As candidates
- Launch the test through the LMS and take it in IA
- Launch the test through the LMS to access the candidate dashboard and candidate report in IA
If you want to know more about the custom parameters please check this our documentation
What you can not do with LTI
These are some actions you can not currently do with the LTI integration:
- Create questions or question sets through the LMS
- The user needs to log in directly into IA to do this
- Questions created in the LMS can not be later exported into IA
- Specify the question sets in the LMS
- Specify the grading scale in the LMS
- Specify test settings in the LMS apart from the ones specified in the previous section
How to configure LTI 1.3 in your LMS
In order to configure the LTI 1.3 in your LMS there are two steps needed:
- Register IA as an LTI tool in your LMS
- This should be done by the LMS Admin
- Register your LMS as an LTI provider in IA
- This is done by IA’s support team with the help of the LMS Admin
The steps to be taken depend on the LMS you are choosing. You should follow your LMS documentation to configure this.
However, if you want you can follow these instructions for your LMS, keeping in mind that they may be a bit outdated as we do not control the changes that occur on the LMS side:
Alongside this configuration, you should also configure the custom parameters that you want to apply in all the tests created via the LTI. More information on the custom parameters can be found here
How can Teachers use LTI
Teachers can take two actions via the LMS
- Create the test
- Launch the test to access it
The steps involved depend on the LMS. You can follow the instructions for your LMS, keeping in mind that they may be a bit outdated as we do not control the changes that occur on the LMS side:
How can students use LTI
The students’ actions are limited to launching the test to take it or to see the candidate report. When a test is listed to the candidate in the LMS they can click on it, which will automatically log them into Inspera allowing them to take and submit the test.
Are Graders sent back from IA to the LMS?
Yes and no.
In IA each question will have a Mark.
After all questions have been marked, the test will have a Total Marks, which is the sum of marks obtained in all the questions (19.5 out of 60 in the example below)
If a Grading Scale is set (for instance, A to F), a test will also have a Grade (E in the example below).
IA will send back the Total Marks to the LMS, not the Grade.
In order to avoid conflicting grades, we advise Planners to select the option “Do not use grading scale”, which means only marks will be used for this test. Otherwise, if different grading scales or different thresholds are used in both systems, the candidate will end up with two different grades for the same test. If you want to ensure this option is selected by default in IA, please reach out to our support team.
Are LTI and IIB compatible?
Yes, it is possible to create and configure a test to be taken with IIB by candidates.
The teacher would create it in the LMS, and launch it - click the link in the LMS - to enter IA and set up the test to be conducted with IIB.
If the candidates are not automatically enrolled (depending on the custom parameter), they would need to enroll via the LTI integration manually by clicking on the link.
In all cases in order to access IA assessments with IIB, candidates need to launch it directly in the IIB software application on their device. As such, for assessments with IIB the direct benefit for LTI is not present for candidates.