Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a set of standards that enable seamless integration of various learning applications with different platforms. LTI has been widely adopted by educational technology providers and is used to integrate publisher tools to the learning management system Brightspace, greatly extending its functionality. It would be difficult to understate the impact of these third-party tools as nearly every student across the Purdue system will encounter at least one within Brightspace through the course of their academic career. These include Kaltura, which allows for video streaming and publisher tools such as Pearson, McGraw Hill Connect, Cengage, and GoReact that provide interactive content to enrich the student learning experience.
However, as the technology evolves, so do the standards and requirements. In June 2020, 1EdTech (formerly IMS Global), the organization that develops and maintains the LTI standards, announced that it will deprecate the older versions of LTI and will only support LTI 1.3 and Advantage moving forward. After the announcement, the Purdue University Brightspace administration team had several options. The team could wait until vendors released migration timelines on their own. Alternatively, they could connect with vendors as soon as possible and urge them to move to the 1.3 standard.
The Purdue University System Brightspace administration team responded by tasking a smaller group of experts across the campuses to handle the migration. This group chose to be proactive and proved to be far ahead of the curve in addressing the change in LTI standards. Over twenty-four 1.1 tools in Brightspace were identified but estimating migration timelines for each was difficult due to many factors. Could both old and new versions of a tool be active in the system at once? How many of the integrated tools already had a 1.3 version available? How quickly would vendors who had no 1.3 option be able to offer an upgrade?
The migration team reached out to vendors to find the answers to these and other questions. Tools needing to be migrated were prioritized based on the availability of an upgrade, difficulty of installing the new integration, vendor support, and whether both 1.1 and 1.3 integrations could coexist in the system. In this way, the group developed a pipeline through which tools could be funneled in an orderly way to ensure the least disruption to users.
The Zoom integration was chosen as a test case to upgrade to the new standard in February 2022. The group developed a phased migration approach, which involved evaluating the new integration in TEST and integrating into PROD with a limited release and additional testing. This was followed by a release to all users and gradually decommissioning the old integration. This approach was shared with other vendors and other institutions across the country as a best practice.
The project faced many challenges, such as vendors that failed to deliver stable 1.3 versions of their tools or who were reluctant to offer upgrades at all. The group worked closely with these vendors and D2L to resolve the issues and provide feedback for improvement. The migration team also leveraged the influence of the Purdue system to demand better service and support from vendors.
By the Summer 2024, the group had successfully migrated 19 tools to the new 1.3 standard. This included high use tools such as Kaltura which involved upgrading over 1.6 million videos deployed in courses across the three campuses. However, some tools still do not have functional 1.3 versions. The migration team continued to monitor the progress of these tools and push for their timely integration.
The LTI Migration project is a complex and challenging undertaking that requires collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills from the group members. The migration team demonstrated leadership and innovation in developing and implementing a phased migration approach that ensured a smooth transition for the users. Group members also presented at conferences including D2L Fusion and shared their experience with other universities through the Multi-State D2L group, providing feedback and input to the vendors, universities, and D2L. Once complete, this project will result in more secure, reliable, and functional LTI integrations for D2L Brightspace. It is also our hope that this collaborative process will serve as a model for other cross-functional groups across Purdue.
Contributors: Kathie Surface and Robert Correll (Purdue Fort Wayne), Jessica Orr and Lara Wolters (Purdue Northwest), Leo Smith, Deb Steffen, Ben Holmes, Adam Hagen, Rob Faltemier (Purdue West Lafayette), Nelson Ortiz and Rhonda Bergamo (Purdue Global)