Integrating VMware Lab Platform as an LTI provider for the Blackboard LMS

Products

• VMWare Hands-on Labs

Issue/Introduction

Learning Management System (LMS)

A learning management system is a software application that is explicitly designed to create, distribute, and manage the delivery of educational content. Think of a learning management system as a technology that can improve learning, make it faster, productive, cost-effective, and what is more critical, trackable.
 

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) 

Learning Tools Interoperability is an initiative managed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium to seamlessly integrate learning applications used by instructors into their courses. It includes a standard protocol for establishing a trusted relationship between the tool provider and the Learning Management System so that students and teachers can have a seamless, integrated experience of using the tool within the context of their course.

Blackboard Learn will be our (LMS) and VMware Lab Platform our (LTI 1.3 Provider) 

Please note: The information provided here is intended only to assist with some of the common ways our product can be integrated into this system. Our support site is not a comprehensive guide to the use of the Blackboard LMS, and our team can only assist with the LTI integration; we are unable to provide support for any other aspect of Blackboard's functionality.

Resolution

Go to the Blackboard Developer's Webpage to register VLP as an app.

Please note: You can manage the default settings for LTI tool providers. You can override these settings on an individual basis when setting up a particular provider. 

Setting	Value
Enabled in courses	Yes
Enabled in organizations	Yes
Creation of tool provider links:	This can be configured according to your institution's preference. You will need to make sure that the VLP tool provider is approved in the next step.
Allow configured tool providers to post grades	This is important if you want the VLP grades to integrate with your Blackboard gradebook automatically. In the Default Configuration section, Send User Data: Select Never, Send user data only over SSL, or Send user data over any connection. The default setting sends data over any connection because secure information, such as username and password, is not being sent.
User Fields to Send	Select the information to be provided to the learning tool when the user opens the link. You can select any combination of Role in Course, Name, and Email Address. Depending on the nature of the tool provider, it may have specific requirements or specific functionality that depends on some or all of this information being passed to the provider.
Allow Membership Service Access	Yes

When you register an app on the Blackboard Developer's Webpage, you can add it to your learning environment using an LTI 1.3 tool. 

Complete the Placement Information section.

 

1. Gather LTI Details from VLP 
   To begin, we need to get our LTI details by going to our VLP Administrator UI, under Integrations > LTI Integrations > LTI v1.3 Tool Settings and copy the following information: 
   • Login URL, also known as Login Initiation URL
   • Launch URL, also known as Tool Redirect URL
   • JWKS URL, also known as Tool JWKS URL
2. Register VLP as an app 
   1. Enable the following option: My Integration supports LTI 1.3.
   2. Fill in all the required fields with the data gathered from the VLP UI.
   3. Click Register application and generate an API key.
   3. Configure LTI tool providers' global properties 
   1. Log in to the Blackboard  Administrator UI.
   2. Under the Administrator Panel select LTI Tool Providers and click Manage Global Properties.
   3. Ensure that your settings match the values in the following table. 
   4. Add a new LTI 1.3 tool provider 
   1. Log in to the Blackboard Administrator UI. 
   2. Under the Administrator Panel select LTI Tool Providers, then select  Register LTI 1.3 Tool. 
   3. In the Client ID field, enter the Application ID of the application you've registered. If you didn't register the application, contact the application developer to obtain the Client ID.
   4. Click Submit. You're brought to a page that displays the application's configuration settings from the Developer Portal. These values are read-only and can't be changed within Blackboard Learn. 
   5. Copy the information under Deployment ID and save it, and also select Approved for the 'Tool Status' setting.
   6. In the Institution policies section, the options in the 'User Fields to Send' will all be set to blank by default. Select them all.
   7. Click Submit to register the tool. 
   5. Create Placements 
      1.  
      1. Give your placement a label. This is what will show up in the course. Also, assign the placement a handle. This identifies the placement.
      2. Please make sure Availability is set to Yes. This is required to launch the VLP Tool and ensures that the LMS and VLP users are adequately mapped. 
      3. In the Type section, make sure the Course content tool is selected, with the option Supports deep linking selected beneath it
      4. In the Tool Provider Information section, enter the Launch URL also known as Tool Redirect URL Click Submit. 
      6. Create the LTI Integration in VLP 
      1. Go back to the VLP Administrator UI, and select Integrations>LTI Integrations>Create LTI Integration
      2. Fill in all the requested data (Client ID is equal to Application ID)
      3. Click Create LTI Integration