Basic LTI Building Block
Posted: 24 December 2014
Workarounds have been added for issues with October 2014 GA release of Learn 9.1.
Welcome!
This website documents a variety of open source applications developed by Stephen P Vickers for use with learning systems from Blackboard Inc:
- PowerLinks for WebCT (Vista 4+ and Campus Edition 6+)
- Building Blocks for Blackboard Learn 9.0+
- PHP classes/applications
- Java classes/applications
- Windows applications
Copies of the applications are generally released under a Creative Commons GNU General Public Licence and can be downloaded from the projects website operated by OSCELOT (the Open Source Community for Educational Learning Objects and Tools). Documentation is provided on this site.
Stephen has been developing educational applications for over 25 years. He received a Blackboard Innovators Award in 2008 and a Blackboard Catalyst Award for Innovative Development in 2009 and two more in 2010. Most recently, he has been working on implementing the IMS Basic LTI specification for Blackboard Learning Systems and developing SpACE (Spatial Activities in Course Environments) as an independent tool supporting the early implementations of both Basic and Full LTI.
If you require any advice or assistance with extending your Blackboard/WebCT platform, please feel free to get in touch at stephen@spvsoftwareproducts.com.
Latest news
Basic LTI Building Block
B2Context package
Posted: 16 October 2014
Added getSchema, getPath(String), getLogDebug, getB2Version and getIsB2Version methods (see JavaDocs for details).
install-b2 Building Block
Posted: 30 August 2014
A new version has been made available to add support for the April 2014 release of Learn 9.1.
PHP LTI tool provider classes
Posted: 29 July 2014
The class library has been updated to add support for Oracle databases, content-item message requests and launches from LTI 2.0 tool consumers.
Basic LTI Building Block
Posted: 15 July 2014
A new release has been made to include support for the April 2014 release of Learn 9.1; support for Learn 9.0 has now been discontinued.
B2Context package
Posted: 18 June 2014
Minor update to the package to support the April 2014 release of Learn 9.1.
LTI Launcher for Windows
Posted: 20 April 2013
This application simulates an LTI tool consumer. It provides a simple environment for testing connections to LTI tool providers.
LTI Connector for WordPress Multisite
Posted: 18 April 2013
This WordPress plugin allows the multisite versions of WordPress to act as an IMS LTI tool provider so that its blogs can be linked directly from a course in a VLE.
Rating
Posted: 2 January 2013
The rating application is a simple LTI application written to illustrate the use of the PHP and Java LTI tool provider classes. It allows an instructor to create a list of items which students may rate. A version is available for both PHP and Java.
Java LTI tool provider classes
Posted: 2 January 2013
The PHP LTI tool provider classes are now available as a Java package to provide the same LTI encapsulation for Java-based web applications. This library supports LTI 1.1 (including Outcomes) as well as the unofficial outcomes, memberships and setting services.
PHP LTI tool provider classes
Posted: 2 January 2013
Version 2.3.00 of the PHP LTI tool provider classes contains a few minor bug fixes and implements a move from using the name context in favour of resource link to be more consistent with the IMS specification. A new method is provided for specifying automatically checked constraints on launch parameters.
install-b2 Building Block
Posted: 10 September 2012
This is a new Building Block which automates the installation of Building Blocks on Learn 9 servers. It is based on the Blackboard-provided starting-block Building Block, but uses an HTTP connection to transfer the war file so that the development environment can be remote from the Blackboard server.
LTI Connector for WebPA 2
Posted: 4 July 2012
The first release of a module for WebPA 2 which adds support for the IMS Learning Tools Interoperablity (LTI) specification is now available.
PHP LTI tool provider classes
Posted: 30 June 2012
Version 2.0.00 of the PHP LTI tool provider classes is a significant new release which separates the data persistence code from the processing of LTI connections. They also incorporate new functionality for setting time periods for when consumer keys are valid and for recording the date of the last access. (These classes supercede the Basic LTI tool provider classes.)
BasicLTI Building Block
Posted: 18 June 2012
Version 2.1.0 of the Basic LTI Building Block is a significant new release which adds support for consumer-wide keys and secrets, white/blacklisting domains, more custom icon options and a mashup tool for adding hyperlinks to Basic LTI tools. More is planned, so watch this space! Thanks to SoftChalk and Pebble Learning for their support of this project.
BasicLTI Building Block
Posted: 20 May 2012
The Basic LTI Building Block has been updated to conform with the final LTI 1,1 specification. It has also passed the IMS LTI 1.1 conformace tests.
BasicLTI PowerLink
Posted: 1 April 2012
The Basic LTI PowerLink has been updated to conform with the final LTI 1,1 specification. It has also passed the IMS LTI 1.1 conformace tests.
BasicLTI Building Block
Posted: 29 January 2012
The Basic LTI Building Block has been updated to provide support for LTI 1.1 and allow instructors to add their own connections to LTI-compliant tools.
BasicLTI PowerLink
Posted: 15 January 2012
An updated version of the Basic LTI PowerLink has been released which adds support for LTI 1.1.
PHP Basic LTI Tool Provider class
Posted: 25 September 2011
A draft PHP class has been made available which encapsulates support for Basic LTI for use with IMS LTI tool providers. It provides a mechanism for abstracting the LTI-specific code from the code which is specific to an application. This is an alternative to the PHP LTI Tool Producer class which also supports Full LTI. This class includes support for the unofficial extension services (outcomes, memberships and setting).
BasicLTI Building Block
Posted: 17 September 2011
An updated version of the Basic LTI Building Block has been released which supports the outcomes, memberships and setting extension services.
PHP LTI Tool Producer class
Posted: 26 February 2011
A draft PHP class has been made available which encapsulates support for Basic and "Full" LTI for use with IMS LTI tool producers. It provides a mechanism for abstracting the LTI-specific code from the code which is specific to an application. The Full LTI specification is still under development by IMS, but this class has been tested with draft implementations for Blackboard Learn 9 and Moodle 1.9.
formSubmission PowerLink v2
Posted: 13 December 2010
A new release of the formSubmission PowerLink is now available. This allows form data to be saved (using the ProxyToolRegistry utility) and for an automated feedback email to be sent back to the student. The data entered can also be used to update columns in the gradebook thereby allowing the forms to control selective release criteria.
PebblePad Building Block
Posted: 6 November 2010
A new Building Block has been released which provides a module to displays a user's status page from a PebblePad server and provide a single sign-on (SS0) mechanism.
B2Context package
Posted: 11 October 2010
This package provides basic support functions for Building Blocks including easy access to language bundle values, configuration settings, navigation items and receipt messages. An example Building Block (B2Context-demo) illustrating the use of this package is also provided.
BasicLTI PowerLink
Posted: 9 October 2010
A minor update of the Basic LTI PowerLink has been released.
B2WebCT Building Block
Posted: 3 October 2010
The B2WebCT Building Block allows a user's MyWebCT page to be displayed within Learn 9 and provides a single sign-on mechanism for logging into WebCT.
WebCTDAO version 2.4
Posted: 28 September 2009
A new version of this PowerLink has been released to support cross-listed sections and extract pages of member records which may optionally match a specified criterion.
login2 version 2.2
Posted: 20 June 2009
A new version of this PowerLink has been released to support MAC2 calculations. This version also fixes a bug when using the PowerLink with assisted configuration.
