homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Nigel Hoath -
Number of replies: 13

Hope this request is ok here. 

Threads and posts relating to LTi (provider, consumer, OAuth, local plugin provider, consumer plugin, core) are currently deposited in various parts of this forum.  [Not least because the rarely visited Forum 'External tool (LTI)' has a rather spurious and limited title].

Yet the issues, solutions and discussions very often are relevant to those working across the subject area.

LTi, and I think most of those who have looked at it would agree, opens up possibilities for Moodle to participate in a broader range of and more complex E-Learning solutions.  A case in point recently for me was were the security issues LTi can address led to Moodle being used where otherwise it would have been rejected.  [As you can gather I'm a fan smile ].

So to my plea: Is it possible that this important subject could have its own forum entitled 'interoperability with Moodle' or something similar that encompasses the topic?  Or even the current forum referenced above to be renamed?

Cheers Nigel

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In reply to Nigel Hoath

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

What helps (whatever it is called) is to have a moderator (or moderators) who are willing to put some time in.  What puts people off more than anything is their questions dropping into a black hole. 

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Nigel Hoath -

Howard agree on that but also when a topic gets dissipated the posts become of less value.

For example "LTI tool throws error on my LMS." being in this section I think demonstrates the point that "External tool (LTi)" doesn't meet the need.  But clearly that post will soon get lost in the vaste volume of posts found on this forum (by the way hats off to you andMary for moderating such volume smile).

Of course I recognise the reluctance of people to post in small forums way down the list.

Anyway happy to be a moderator providing no one minds a consultant as opposed to a user doing it.  I have a quick look every day anyway. But I seriously think that the forum title must be changed so it attracts traffic for the full scope of what is very powerful functionality but equally not easy for non techies to benefit from.

How does one go about being a moderator?  cool






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In reply to Nigel Hoath

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Just H -

Personally I see no reason to change the title of the forum, in fact if the forums here where a democracy I'd vote against it. "Interoperability with Moodle" means nothing to me (or, I should say, it means a multitude of things but nothing specific); LTI on the other hand tells me exactly what the forum is about i.e. the Standard created by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. The fact people post in the wrong forum on occasion is due to the user not the title or structure of the site.

One thing I would add to Howard's "What helps..." is moderators moving posts to the correct forum if and when they see a misplaced post or it's brought to their attention (which does often happen but some posts still tend to slip through the cracks).

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In reply to Just H

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Nigel Hoath -

Just H I take your point and can go with the 'LTi' but what is 'External tool' meant to mean in current times?

How about "LTi - Learning tools interoperability".  My concern would be that people who do not know what LTi stands for, and there are many including a Moodle supplier I recently dealt with, but would be interested in the interoperability of Learning tools would pass this forum by.

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In reply to Nigel Hoath

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi all - well - talking about moving forum threads, I'm going to move this to the Community sites forum where we tend to discuss things like namings of forums big grin

I personally don't see a problem with LTI - I did a quick google search for External tools and see that the term is used in other systems  - Blackboard - Schoology - Canvas - to name but three so presumably that term is also in fairly common use. Let's see what others think.

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Nigel Hoath -

Mary 'external tools' is of course referenced.  But it relates at best to half of LTi.  Where do people interested in using LTi with 'internal tools' post?

Moodle can be an LTi provider, consumer or both.  And issues such as security, a fundamental of LTi relate to both provider and consumer.  But whatever the issues of implementation and usage have much overlap.  





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In reply to Nigel Hoath

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Just H -

External tool, to me anyway, means exactly what it says - a tool external to the main home system which you are either consuming or providing.

As for renaming to "LTi - Learning tools interoperability", I personally wouldn't have a major issue with it with a slight tweak to follow standard conventions dealing with acronyms e.g. "Learning tools interoperability (LTI)". That said, how far do we take it e.g. should the SCORM forum be renamed to "Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)"?

The reality is we live in a world of acronyms (some more than others, you should see the list of acronyms used in my industry!) and it is down to the individual to understand acronyms used in their industry. In this case, LTI is, although some might say still "fairly new" an acronym in common use within the LMS field (or should that be Learning Management System field big grin).

Re "Mary 'external tools' is of course referenced.  But it relates at best to half of LTi.  Where do people interested in using LTi with 'internal tools' post?" in your later post. Even in your use case, based on other threads you have been involved in, you are not using "internal tools". The fact you intend using an internal Moodle platform to play SCORM packages to be consumed by an internal bespoke LMS does not change the fact the courses you set up in Moodle are being provided as an external tool to the bespoke LMS. 


PS I think you have a good chance to change the title of the forum, not sure about changing the acronym of the Standard. Other than yourself I have never seen LTI referred to as LTi?

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In reply to Just H

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Helen Foster -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hello everyone,

Apologies for coming late to this discussion. It does indeed seem that we are getting an increasing number of LTI-related questions in the forums now that people are starting to use the 'Publish as LTI tool' in Moodle 3.1.

Possible options are:

  1. Create a new forum for the Publish as LTI tool or
  2. Rename the External tool forum to 'LTI and Moodle' or 'LTI tool consumer or provider' or similar.

The forum description could explain that 'External tool' = LTI tool consumer and 'Publish as LTI tool' = LTI tool provider.

Which option do you think is best?

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

I think the second option is better. One combined forum.

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: homeless LTi wandering these forums!!

by Nigel Hoath -
Second one sounds good to me.

Just an aside I lost contact with this thread when it was moved and only upon Tim's last post did I get an email.    Be assured wasn't lack of interest smile

Just an update on our current project we have now implemented LTI in both directions for a corporate global client.   One of the important external tools accessed by LTI is BBB.  And we are now advising on Moodle becoming the main LMS.  Without LTI that would not be a consideration.  So our interest remains strong.  

Cheers Nigel

ps:  Yes LTI and not LTi.  Sorry I slipped into project talk as we already have an LTI acronym and this was a way to differentiate and now it has become second nature.  But I promise LTI here in the future
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In reply to Nigel Hoath

Re: Renamed External tool forum - LTI and Moodle

by Helen Foster -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Thanks Tim and Nigel for your comments.

The External tool forum is now renamed LTI and Moodle and has a description which mentions the External tool and Publish as LTI tool.

If you come across any discussion threads which should really be in the LTI and Moodle forum, let me know and I will move them. (I'm about to search for LTI threads in General help and move them...)

By the way, help with adding to / improving the documentation is always much appreciated!

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: Renamed External tool forum - LTI and Moodle

by Nigel Hoath -

Thanks Helen.  With that I'll see if we can drum up some trade.  I'm certain many Moodle users could benefit from LTI one way or the other.  And non Moodle users might see it as a way to migrate painlessly to Moodle.  The more the merrier smile


But yes the doc needs improving.  We'll see what we can do thoughtful

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