LTI Integration – Setting up ForClass on your LMS

The obvious basic assumption is that your LMS supports LTI and that LTI has not been disabled by the LMS administrators.

How-to

Setup varies according to LMS type.
In some LMS types you first define an External Tool and later use that definition when creating External Tool Links, while in other LMS types you enter the External Tool parameters on each link you create.

The basic information usually required when defining an External Tool:

  • Launch URL – https://app.forclass.com/lti when creating a general tool definition, or the specific activity’s “LTI link” value from ForClass when directly creating an activity link.
  • Key + Secret – These will be provided to you by the ForClass team

A few points to notice:

  • The tool definition privacy control fields should be set up to send the users’ email address, name and role, so when a user comes into ForClass from the LMS we can associate the session with the relevant ForClass account using the email address provided.
  • It is highly recommended to set up the External Tool links to open in a new tab/window.
    This allows for a better user experience, and prevents some possible issues, specifically when browsers are configured to block 3rd party cookies.

See below some information we have for specific LMS

Canvas

To configure ForClass on Canvas, go to the “Settings” page of your course and select the “Apps” tab.

You can add ForClass using either of the following methods:

  1. via the “App Center” (if it’s available on your system)
    • Find ForClass in the apps list and click it
    • Click the “Add App” button
    • Fill in the fields:
      • Consumer Key + Shared Secret: [As received from the ForClass team]
  2. via the “Add App” dialog (possibly after clicking the “View App Configurations” button):
    • Choose “By URL” as the Configuration Type
    • Fill in the fields:
      • Name: ForClass
      • Consumer Key + Shared Secret: [As received from the ForClass team]
      • Config URL: https://app.forclass.com/config/lti.xml

Blackboard

In Blackboard there’s no initial setup step. You define the tool parameters on each tool provider link that you create.
To add LTI links to your content:

  • Choose “Build Content” => “Web Link”
  • Enter the activity’s specific ForClass LTI link in the URL field
  • Make sure to check the “This link is to a Tool Provider” checkbox to reveal the LTI configuration fields
  • Enter the Key and Secret as provided by ForClass
  • In the “Web link Options” section, select “Yes” for “Open in New Window”

Sakai

You’ll find the tool definition screen in “Site Info” => “External Tools” => “Tools Available in System”.