Using LTI integrations with Blackboard

In this article, you'll learn how to set up and use LTI 1.3 integration with Blackboard. LTI 1.3 allows you to pick a piece of content from your account and embed it without having to use the embed code. 

• How to set up the LTI 1.3 tool
• How to use the LTI 1.3 integration

Note that you must be an admin on both Blackboard and ThingLink.

How to set up the LTI 1.3 tool in Blackboard

Once you are ready to set up the integration, follow the instructions below. 

1. Log in to your ThingLink account, go to Organization - Integrations - LTI 1.3 connection and click 'Add new'. Enter anything, e.g. 'Blackboard test' in the 'Connection name' field and click the blue 'Add' button.
2. Log in to your Blackboard account. Note that you must have admin rights to set up a new LTI tool.
3. In Blackboard, go to Administrator panel - Integrations section - LTI Tool Providers.
4. Click 'Register LTI 1.3/Advantage Tool'. Enter the following Client ID: 381f9d8c-dc82-4172-b8df-36534e60e6ee and click Submit.
5. All fields in Tool Status should be populated automatically. Set tool status to 'Approved'.
   
   Feel free to change the name or description but do not change other fields. You do not need to provide any custom parameters.
6. Scroll down to Institution Policies. Under user fields, check all boxes (Role in Course, Name, Email Address). This information will be used to set up user accounts and log them in to ThingLink. 
7. Set 'Allow grade service access' to 'Yes' and 'Allow Membership Service Access' to 'Yes' if you want ThingLink to be able to sync points for ThingLink scenarios to Blackboard's Gradebook.
   
8. Copy the Deployment ID
9. Click Submit.
10. Go back to ThingLink and find the connection you've set up in step 1. Click 'View details', scroll down to 'Platform specific parameters' and fill out the form:
    • Issuer / PlatformID: https://blackboard.com
    • Client ID: 381f9d8c-dc82-4172-b8df-36534e60e6ee
    • Deployment ID: paste the Deployment ID from the 'Tool status' page (see step 5)
    • Platform keyset URL: https://developer.blackboard.com/api/v1/management/applications/381f9d8c-dc82-4172-b8df-36534e60e6ee/jwks.json
    • Access token URL: https://developer.blackboard.com/api/v1/gateway/oauth2/jwttoken
    • Authentication request URL: https://developer.blackboard.com/api/v1/gateway/oidcauth 
11. Click Save.
12. Go back to Blackboard Administrator panel - Integrations - LTI Tool Providers. Select the menu option that appears next to ThingLink. Go to Manage Placements.
     
13. There should be 2 automatically created placements called 'ThingLink content selector' and 'ThingLink launch'. If there are no placements, click 'Create placement' and follow steps 14-15.
14. (Optional) Create a Deep Linking content tool placement. This placement allows adding ThingLink content to courses.  
    •  Label: enter the name for the ThingLink app, e.g. 'ThingLink'. This will be shown to your teachers/faculty and students.
    • Description: enter anything or leave it empty. The description will be shown to the students if they have access to the tool.
    • Handle: this is a unique identifier for the placement. Enter any alphanumeric characters.
    • Availability: select 'Yes'.
    • Type: select 'Deep linking content tool'. Check the 'Allow student access box' if you'd like students to be able to add their own ThingLinks via this tool.
    • Do not check the 'Launch in New Window' box.
    • Target Link URI: https://www.thinglink.com/lti1p3/launch
    • Tool Provider Custom Parameters: leave empty
    • Click Submit to add the placement.
15. (Optional) Create a course tool placement. This placement allows users to access ThingLink from Blackboard without a need for separate credentials.
    •  Label: enter the name for the ThingLink app, e.g. 'ThingLink'.
    • Description: enter anything or leave it empty. The description will be shown to the students if they have access to the tool.
    • Handle: this is a unique identifier for the placement. Enter any alphanumeric characters.
    • Availability: select 'Yes'.
    • Type: select 'Deep linking content tool'. Check the 'Allow student access' box if you'd like students to be able to add their own ThingLinks via this tool.
    • Type: select 'Course tool'. Check 'Allow student access' box if you'd like students to have an easy way to get a ThingLink account.
    • Check the 'Launch in New Window' box. 
    • Target Link URI: https://www.thinglink.com/lti1p3/launch?t=landing
    • Tool Provider Custom Parameters: leave empty
    • Click Submit to add the placement.

How to use the LTI 1.3 tool

Inserting content from ThingLink

1. Open a course and navigate to Content
2. Try to add new content using the '+' button and select 'Content market':
3. Select 'ThingLink content selector'. Name may vary if it was customised when setting up the LTI tool.
4. You will see your ThingLink content. Hover over a Scene or a Scenario you wish to add to BlackBb

Scenarios and grade synchronization 

When adding a scenario, ThingLink will automatically send the student's results to Blackboard Gradebook.

When students open a scenario via Blackboard, it will open in a new tab. Once the student completes a scenario, ThingLink will send their grade to Blackboard and create a new grade item if needed.

Grade calculation: the integration will automatically create a new grade item, graded using Points. Maximum points will equal the total sum of all points available in the scenario.

Signing in to ThingLink using the course tool

If you enabled the course tool placement, you will be able to add a link that opens ThingLink in a new tab and automatically authenticates the user. If the user does not have a ThingLink account yet, it will be created and added to your license automatically.

To add such a link in Blackboard Ultra, do the following:

1. Open your course and click 'View course & institution tools' under 'Books &  Tools'
2. Pick 'ThingLink launch' from Available tools. Name may differ if it was customized when setting up the LTI tool.
   
3. A new content item will be added that lets instructors and students navigate to ThingLink

If you are not using Blackboard Ultra or you are using the Original Course View, the ThingLink course tool should appear in the Tools tab.

Enabling LTI 1.1

ThingLink also offers an LTI 1.1 integration that allows provisioning accounts but does not support deep linking / embedding content to the LMS. We highly recommend using LTI 1.3 instead. However, if your LMS does not support LTI 1.3 and you would like to use LTI 1.1, please contact our team.