How to Seamlessly Integrate Educational Content Across Learning Management Systems

Learning management systems (LMS) like Canvas, Schoology, and Blackboard have become ubiquitous in education. However, their closed ecosystems present challenges for curriculum publishers looking to distribute content across multiple platforms. Fortunately, the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard enables seamless integration of third-party tools into major LMS. Specifically, LTI Deep Linking allows users to access external content within their native LMS interface. This article will examine the benefits of LTI Deep Linking for curriculum publishers and provide guidance on implementation.

The Walled Gardens of LMS Platforms

Legacy LMS were designed as monolithic systems that contained all educational content and tools within their platform. They operate as “walled gardens” that make it difficult to move content out to other systems. For example, while Canvas can easily import Common Cartridge or SCORM packages from other LMS, it does not allow exporting courses in those formats. This lock-in effect poses significant challenges for curriculum publishers seeking distribution across multiple LMS installations.

Manual workarounds like file exporting and single sign-on provide partial solutions, but have major limitations:

– File exporting (e.g. Common Cartridge) places the burden on administrators to manually update courses when new versions are published. Content quickly becomes outdated.

– Single sign-on still requires users to navigate to different systems and remember credentials for each platform.

These friction points discourage LMS administrators from purchasing content that lacks tight integration. Publishers are left with a difficult choice between limiting their market to a single LMS or maintaining redundant versions of their courses. A better solution is clearly needed.

LTI Deep Linking for Seamless LMS Integrations

LTI Deep Linking provides the seamless content experience that administrators demand. Part of the LTI 1.3 specification, Deep Linking allows external learning tools to be accessed directly within an LMS via authenticated links. Students simply click a course link within their LMS and the curriculum is presented natively inside the platform.

For curriculum publishers, LTI Deep Linking delivers major benefits:

– Students stay within their core LMS – No additional logins required

– Content remains synchronized – Updates propagate automatically

– Grades can be passed back to the LMS gradebook

– Works across all major LMS systems

This “best of both worlds” approach combines the familiar LMS user experience with access to external tools and content. For publishers, Deep Linking greatly reduces the sales objections around content integration and system switching.

Choosing an LTI Provider Platform

Despite the promise of LTI Deep Linking, most major LMS act as LTI consumers but not providers. They can import LTI content, but won’t allow content to be exported out of their platform via LTI links. This reflects their institutional focus – LMS vendors want to own the full education experience, not serve as an authoring tool for third parties.

For publishers, this lack of LTI support severely limits distribution options. Platforms like Canvas may work fine when selling to other Canvas customers, but lock you out of integrating with other LMS. Faced with this dilemma, publishers have several options:

1. Don’t use LTI, and rely on inferior file export integrations
2. Limit sales to clients using the same LMS platform
3. Maintain the same courses redundantly across multiple LMS
4. Use an LTI provider platform purpose-built for content publishing

Maintaining redundant versions of curriculum across different LMS is time-consuming, expensive, and error-prone. The fourth option – using a dedicated LTI provider platform – emerges as the clear choice.

These LTI publishing tools act as an integration hub, allowing courses authored in one system to be delivered seamlessly into leading LMS via LTI Deep Linking. Content stays synced across systems, grades are passed back, and a consistent user experience is maintained. Administrators can easily install new curriculum and trust it will work across LMS.

For publishers, the benefits are immense:

– Create content once, integrate it anywhere

– Avoid vendor lock-in to a single LMS platform

– Reduce sales objections around LMS integrations

– Focus resources on creating better courses instead of managing integrations

By handling the heavy lifting of LTI linkage, integration platforms enable publishers to focus on their core competency – developing high-quality curriculum.

Getting Started with LTI Deep Linking

For publishers looking to leverage LTI Deep Linking, the first step is choosing an integration platform that supports content authoring and LTI connectivity. Some options to evaluate include:

– Aristek eLearning Integration Tool

– Gomo Learning

– Ruzuku

When reviewing options, ensure the platform can both import courses from your existing LMS and export content via LTI links. Other key considerations include content authoring capabilities, grade passback support, analytics, and ease of use.

Once an integration platform is selected, importing existing courses is straightforward. Content can usually be brought in through standard formats like SCORM, Common Cartridge, or H5P. Courses reside in the integration platform, where they can be updated by authors and distributed as needed.

The integration platform will handle the LTI setup process, generating authenticated links that can be activated within client LMS platforms. Administrators simply install the links to make courses available to their students. Grades and progress pass back through the LTI connection.

For publishers, this approach represents the easiest path to cross-LMS content distribution. With their curriculum hosted on a purpose-built integration platform, seamless LTI integrations can be established with new client systems in a fraction of the time.

Conclusion

LTI Deep Linking has immense potential to streamline content integration for curriculum publishers. But with major LMS acting as LTI consumers rather than providers, publishers need an integration platform capable of bi-directional LTI connections.

By leveraging such a platform, publishers can break free of LMS lock-in and distribute their offerings into any major learning system. Seamless LTI integrations address buyer concerns around complex installations and inconsistent experiences across LMS platforms. For organizations looking to scale curriculum sales across multiple customer sites, LTI Deep Linking is an essential enabler.