The Lab-Aids Portal is LTI compliant, and we do have the ability to integrate with a range of LMS's (learning management system), including Schoology and Canvas. We deliver a set of LTI credentials for you to add as a LTI external tool in your LMS. This allows students and teachers to access their account. We also hand over access codes for users to gain access to their content. Redeeming these access codes is an easy, one-time step, and the access codes are universal and simple to communicate.
In brief, here is how the LTI integration works:
1. Lab-Aids generates both the LTI credentials and the Access Codes.
Sample LTI Credentials:
Launch url: https://portals.lab-aids.com/ltigateway.htm
Consumer Key: 123456789abcdepghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Secret Key: abcdepghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456789
Sample Access Codes:
Teachers: jefferson-teachers
Students: jefferson-grade6; jefferson-grade7; jefferson-grade8
2. You will add the LTI credentials into your LMS as a LTI external tool. This link/tool can be added to all courses/classes for students and teachers to access.
3. Once students and teachers click on the newly added Lab-Aids link/tool, they are automatically rostered in our Portal (ie, their account is created), but they are done so with no content added to their account.
4. The user then adds the corresponding Access Code (one for all students, one for all teachers) to their account to gain access to their content. Here are the instructions for a user to add an Access Code to their account.
Pros & Cons of LTI integration:
Pros: Very simple for students and teachers to access, no rostering is required, and no Classes need to be defined (nor can Classes be defined). This also functions as single sign-on (SSO) for all users.
Cons: No student-teacher relationship established (ie, no "Classes"), so certain features are not available, such as: teachers assigning homework & tests within our platform and teachers communicating with students. Item banks are still available for export (.rtf, .pdf, QTI), but cannot be assigned to students using our assessment platform. However, this may not be a trade-off, since many LMS users prefer to assign homework and tests via their LMS instead of using our platform.
See how this is done specifically for Schoology or Canvas. Teachers can also direct students to specific pages in a student book with this method as well.