LTI 1.1 Launch: Integrate Your Favorite Third-party Content Into Skilljar

A key differentiator between internal LMSs and LMSs built for external training is the level at which they invest in the customer experience.

Because Skilljar is purpose-built to train end-customers and partners, we are dedicated to making improvements that provide a consumer-grade UX and allow learning program owners to leverage the methods of training that are the best fit for their learners. This means providing engaging training methods natively in Skilljar while also building our platform to integrate seamlessly with the other tools in your content creation ecosystem.

Skilljar is excited to announce the launch of LTI 1.1, available now to customers on all pricing plans. This powerful feature allows program owners to provide their learners with third-party content creator tools to enhance their external education programs and experience.

What is LTI 1.1?

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is an educational software technology protocol that allows Content Providers to communicate with Learning Management Systems (LMS). Skilljar supports launching content from LTI providers using v1.1 of the LTI standard.

For example, an LMS like Skilljar can use LTI to serve course content and tools provided by external, third-party systems, and share student information and learning context between systems. Students are authenticated into the Content Provider without requiring a learner to log in separately to another tool.

Why is LT1 1.1 Important for Program Owners?

There are many content providers Skilljar customers can leverage through the LTI 1.1 launch, including LinkedIn Learning and ProctorU, and virtual lab providers like Skytap and CloudShare. This significantly expands the number of tools and providers that customers can use for their training content.

This launch supports students and admins for a richer learning experience in the following ways:

Access third-party content within Skilljar

With the new LTI 1.1 capabilities, LTI content can be embedded directly within the Skilljar lesson page or launched in a new browser tab.

Students will not have to leave their academy, or sign up with the other content provider, to access third-party content. This creates a more seamless user experience and allows program owners to launch LTI content in a way that makes sense for the lesson.

Administrators have more flexible and sophisticated capabilities to choose the type of content they can include in a Skilljar lesson, opening the door to virtual labs and other types of learning environments.

Gain insight into LTI lesson completion

LTI 1.1 also includes a feature called LTI Basic Outcomes, which allows LTI providers to send back a Completion Status Message and Score (0-1) to Skilljar, which can be interpreted in the lesson settings as a Lesson Score.

Again, this update allows users to focus on learning, not jumping through UI hoops, and also gives program owners insight into Skilljar learners’ LTI content completion. The LTI outcomes that the tool sends back to Skilljar are incorporated into that student’s total lesson completion or lesson score if admins choose to enable that feature where the completion status converts into a numerical score.

It’s also important to note that LTI 1.1 is backward compatible with LTI 1.0, so content providers who only support LTI 1.0 launch should still be able to use this integration type.

Using LTI 1.1 With Skilljar

With LTI version 1.1, Skilljar learners can embed LTI content within the Skilljar lesson window or launch content from a link within the window.

To learn how to add an LTI integration to your Skilljar instance, click here to read the support article.

If you are not yet a Skilljar customer and would like to learn how we can help you deliver a rich and engaging learning experience to your customers and partners, please book a demo with us.