Canvas Credentials LTI 1.3 - Adding the LTI External Tool as a Module Item

[Helen24]

We would like to to add the Canvas Credentials 1.3 LTI as an External Tool in a Module in Canvas. With the 1.1 LTI, we could select "External Tool" and add "Badges" or "Pathways" directly as a Module Item. We miss this functionality with the 1.3 LTI and have chosen to wait on upgrading some of our courses, because we are lacking this functionality.

I am an administrator responsible for Canvas Credentials at my institution.

[BenjieMB]

Hello!

Thank you for this question.  Correct - with the LTI 1.3, to trigger automatic badge awards from learner activity in a Canvas LMS course, you do not need to add a module item (external tool).  Badges can be automatically awarded for module completion, assignment completion, and course grade.  Similarly, you can add a Pathway to the group of learners in the Canvas LMS course directly and do not need to do this via external tool module item.

[Helen24]

Hello,

I appreciate your response, but I find that it doesn't really address our question. Yes, I do understand that we don't need to add the external tool as a module item anymore, and we are doing this in most of our courses. However, we still would like to be able to add it for certain courses!

We have found the feature to be very useful as a way to remind learners of their progress along a Pathway - when clicking "next, next, next" and moving through pages, learners don't always remember to check "Credentials" to view their progress. We'd like to remind them by adding the LTI as a module item.

We are waiting to upgrade certain courses from 1.1 to the 1.3 LTI because the new LTI is lacking this feature.

Do you know of any other way we might be able to add Canvas Credentials as a Module item? Thank you.

[Shar]

Hi @Helen24 ,

I'm in a similar predicament where we did switch to the Canvas Credentials LTI (.3) before realizing that we can no longer include the badge at the end of the module to "trigger the award" and so that students know they have earned the badge.

I grabbed a fresh copy of Growing with Canvas instructor course from Commons and it still references the Canvas Legacy LTI 1.1 with instructions to "add to this Module, as the last item, External Tool and select Badgr." I really need the badge to show up at the end of the module. 😥

@BenjieMB  is there anyway to add the individual module badge to the module anymore? What happens if I also do the Canvas Legacy LTI 1.1 and add Badgr (LTI 1.1) in manually? I actually have a course that has both Badges and Credentials available in Course Navigation.

Also, we have some courses that have migrated to 1.3 and some still using 1.1. What happens to the LTI 1.1 badge at the end of the module? The help https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Badges-Credentials/How-do-I-upgrade-from-the-Legacy-Canvas... doesn't say what happens to the old integration in the modules.

And in https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Credentials-Badges/Canvas-Badges-and-Canvas-Credentials-LT... it acknowledges there are a few features still not available/limitations in LTI 1.3 like support for evidence collection (though I saw in a release note that someone has to goto Credentials to submit evidence) and a student view is not available in LTI 1.3.

Missing the badge at the end of the module,
Cheers - Shar ⭐

[Helen24]

Thanks @Shar for sharing your similar experience that you too miss having the feature of Evidence Collection via the External Tool.

At our institution, we have upgraded to the 1.3 LTI with many, but not all of our courses, for this reason.

Related to your question, Also, we have some courses that have migrated to 1.3 and some still using 1.1. What happens to the LTI 1.1 badge at the end of the module? - in our experience with this, that "External Tool item" at the end of the module will simply break if 1.1 is no longer installed in the course. When you click on it, it will take you back to the Module view of the course and have an error message that reads something like "this item has been removed from the course."

@BenjieMB - do you have any insights on when "Support for Evidence Collection" for LTI 1.3 will be supported via External Tool or some other means? Given the statement that @Shar identified in the 1.1 to 1.3 Comparison article "With the automatic triggering of LTI 1.3, the external tool placement was no longer needed. Evidence collection will be added to LTI 1.3 in the future."

Is this on the road map yet? Thank you!

 -Helen

[BenjieMB]

Hello!

These are all great questions - we love to connect with folks who are so thoughtfully leveraging these solutions to support their learners!  I'll happily think out loud a bit about some of the queries I think I've seen in this thread:

• Do you know of any other way we might be able to add Canvas Credentials as a Module item? Thank you.
  • While in the LTI 1.3 there isn't a way to add Canvas Credentials as a module item in the same way that we would in the LTI 1.1, I've seen some of our partners add module items to draw their learner's attention to the fact that they just earned a badge.  I'll share some below!
    • Add a page at the end of a module that says "You just earned a badge!" with an image of the badge tied to that module.  There could also be a link to Badgr.com or the institution's unique Canvas Credentials Org URL
    • Add a claim code link as a final module item, in which the learner must actively "claim" the badge.
    • Add a link to the URL that would take the learner to the Credentials section of the course (E.g. https://[yourinstitution].instructure.com/courses/course_number/external_tools/tool_id)
• What happens if I also do the Canvas Legacy LTI 1.1 and add Badgr (LTI 1.1) in manually? I actually have a course that has both Badges and Credentials available in Course Navigation.
  • This may provide a temporary solution (having the LTI 1.1 AND LTI 1.3 installed in the same course at the same time), but this will not, to my understanding, be a permanent solution as all users of the LTI 1.1 will at some point have the LTI automatically upgraded to mirror the LTI 1.3 experience.
• What happens to the LTI 1.1 badge at the end of the module? The help https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Badges-Credentials/How-do-I-upgrade-from-the-Legacy-Canvas... doesn't say what happens to the old integration in the modules.
  • Great question!  I actually do not know the answer to this off the top of my head.  I will, however look into it :).  I suspect that, as Helen suggested, there will be some sort of error with the module item after the upgrade to the LTI 1.3 experience.
• Yes!  Evidence submission is now available in the LTI 1.3!  Check out the release notes here.
• I'm not entirely sure what is meant by "Student View not available in the LTI 1.3" - might you expand on this?

I hope that this provides at least some clarity :).  Again, it's always a pleasure to connect with folks on this, and I look forward to continuing the exploration as we navigate this change in partnership!