{"id":1007,"date":"2016-11-08T10:14:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T10:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.numbas.org.uk\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2016-11-08T10:14:57","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T10:14:57","slug":"run-numbas-in-more-places-than-ever-before-with-the-new-lti-tool-provider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.numbas.org.uk\/theme-testing\/blog\/2016\/11\/run-numbas-in-more-places-than-ever-before-with-the-new-lti-tool-provider\/","title":{"rendered":"Run Numbas in more places than ever before with the new LTI tool provider"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re happy to announce the release of a Basic LTI 1.1 tool provider for Numbas exams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"lti-provider-dashboard\"<\/p>\n

One of the more complicated parts of using Numbas is getting it to work with your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). We\u00a0designed Numbas to use the SCORM standard, which ideally would allow it to run in any SCORM-compliant VLE without any\u00a0configuration or input from the server administrator. However, there have always been a couple of wrinkles in that plan: not all VLEs support SCORM, and some of those that claim to\u00a0don’t do it properly.<\/p>\n

Blackboard’s SCORM player has a few long-standing bugs and missing features which mean that we haven’t recommended it for\u00a0serious use. Since we can’t fix those problems ourselves, we’ve spent a long time trying to find a way work around Blackboard’s problems. Additionally, when a large contingent of Norwegian lecturers visited us for the MatRIC colloquium this April, we discovered that very few institutions in Norway use VLEs which support SCORM.\u00a0Someone suggested we look at LTI, since\u00a0many more\u00a0VLEs seem to support it.<\/p>\n

The basic idea with LTI is that you create a link between your VLE (the consumer<\/em>)\u00a0and another server (the\u00a0provider<\/em>). When a student clicks on your tool in the VLE, it redirects them to the provider with a cryptographically-signed request containing enough information to identify the student and the activity they’re\u00a0trying to access. The provider is then in charge of running the activity, and can pass a final score back to the VLE to go in its grade book.<\/p>\n

For Numbas, that means that our tool provider can take charge of the management and reporting of attempt data, which has always been the weak point of\u00a0VLEs’ built-in SCORM players. However, this is quite a departure for us because our tool provider is a piece of software which you have to run on your own server. So we’re making this tool available, but still supporting and recommending using Numbas through SCORM when possible.<\/p>\n

\"lti-provider-manage-consumers\"<\/p>\n

We’ve been using the LTI provider for a few courses here at Newcastle since the start of term, and so far\u00a0we haven’t had any problems. It replaced our existing Moodle setup completely, and lecturers really appreciate having their Numbas\u00a0material in Blackboard, right alongside the rest of their course\u00a0content.<\/p>\n

You might want to use the LTI provider if:<\/strong><\/p>\n