Avalon as an LTI tool in a Learning Management System

An Avalon site can be configured to work as an LTI tool in a Learning Management System, allowing access to media based on course membership. To access course items, a user can log into their LMS, click on an external tool link, and be redirected to a special Avalon context that only shows items authorized for the course. As part of the redirect, Avalon gathers course and user information verified by OAuth. Using the course ID, Avalon customizes the landing page for the user to only show items listed for that course.

After using the LTI tool, a user will still be logged in under that context when using the same Avalon instance in the same browser. Logging out of the application then logging back in will clear the session and resolve this.

LTI Setup

Add the LMS as an authentication provider

The authentication settings for LTI are added to config/authentication.yml with the other authentication providers. A new parameter called "hidden" was added to keep the LTI provider from showing up at the log in screen. Here is an example LTI authentication config block:

- :name: Avalon LTI Oauth
  :provider: :lti
  :hidden: true
  :params:
    :oauth_credentials:
      key: 'secret'

Configure hash keys

There are more lti configuration options in config/lti.yml, which tells avalon where to look for user, class and lms information in the hash received from the LMS. These are the default values that are hard-coded into our version of the gem omniauth-lti. You'll only need to add the lti.yml if any of these values are different for your LMS. You might want to follow this recipe for choosing values to avoid confusion in the interface.

---
<tool_consumer_instance_guid>:
  :uid: :user_id
  :email: :lis_person_contact_email_primary
  :context_id: :context_id
  :context_name: :context_label

LMS/CMS Specific Setup Instructions

The final step is to go into your LMS or CMS and create a link to the Avalon LTI.

Canvas

Canvas allows for the specification of global as well as course-specific LTI providers. From either the Global or the Course Settings, click Apps, then View App Center to reveal the Add New App button.

Clicking that button reveals the LTI app configuration panel.

The parameters are similar to those entered for Sakai or Blackboard.

Sakai

To add an external tool to a course, go to site setup on the sidebar then check off the box for one of the external tools. We already named one "Avalon".

It will then show up in the side bar.

Click on it and select the edit button in the upper left hand corner. We used the following settings (replacing <avalon ip address> with your url):

Check the boxes to release the name and email address to the external tool. If these aren't checked, students logging in the first time through sakai will receive an error message.

Blackboard

Contact the Avalon team for more information.

Avalon Media System

Configuring LTI