Context

Currently, on our Moodle 4.1 on production, we do not allow teachers to add LTI tools. We ONLY allow on certain courses. To do so, we add the capabitity to add manual LTI tools to the specific courses (around 5 courses, out of +3000 courses per year; the LTI integration is on another Moodle managed by a specific Department with very specific functionalities).

This works really easy for us as administrators and teachers involved on this needs.

Our Moodle 4.1 production system runs the weekly version Moodle 4.1.17+ (Build: 20250404).

The problem

We are planning to migrate from Moodle 4.1 to 4.5 this summer, on July. Its current version is the weekly Moodle 4.5.3+ (Build: 20250404).

To do so, we are testing all the scenarios we need to ensure they work. One of them is this LTI integration.

We have made several tests and invested several hours on this and we cannot configure such a situation on Moodle 4.5 as it is on our Moodle 4.1.

The big difference is that now all LTI tools are now managed on the new section More > LTI External tools.

So this issue is to show the pros and cons of several scenarios and make proposals to improve this LTI integration on Moodle as a platform. Maybe this issue is somehow an EPIC. I let you determine the discussion and the evolution of this issue. I think this issue as a summary of detected "cons" and proposals. Since I do not know the future of the LTI integration into Moodle, maybe I am saying things that would have to evolve in a different way. At least, the needs and cons stated here should help to detect scenarios to just "work".

Tested scenarios

All these scenarios are tested on a Moodle 4.5 as LTI platfrom, and a Moodle 4.1 as an LTI tool.

Configured LTI tool into course as LTI 1.3

Cons: There is a tedious manual configuration to make it work, even following the public documentation to this respect. We finally could set it up thanks to a Moodle Partner, Toni from 3ipunt, that let us link both platform and LTI tool.

Proposal: Add support for "Add LTI Advantage" button, as it appears on site level. It would be very easy. This assumes that the teacher has the necessary rights to get the LTI Advantage link from the LTI tool, as it happens at site level.

Cons: The LTI tool registered into a course also appears at site level.

Cons: We have a course A with LTI tools registered into the course. We import the whole course A into another course B. LTI tools registered into the course B does not work just after. They need to be set up on the LTI tool with the new Client ID and Deployment ID. In addition, LTI tool appear duplicated again on site level.

Proposal: Would it be possible somehow that after course importation on course B, those LTI tools keep working as they were on course A without duplication at site level?

Configured LTI tool into course as LTI 1.0/1.1

This option is actually what our teacher should use, they use admin and password items into the LTI tool configuration.

Cons: Setting up a LTI tool 1.0/1.1 into the course A has the same effect as LTI 1.3: they make appear a site level instance.

Cons: When importing course A into B, course B LTI tools also appear as duplicated LTI toosl at site level. We think this is not sustainable.

Proposal: The same as for LTI 1.3: Would it be possible somehow that after course importation on course B, those LTI tools keep working as they were on course A without duplication at site level?

Configure LTI tool at site level

Pros: With the LTI Advantage button we successfully and autonomously configured and paired both platform and LTI tool.

Cons: There is no way to let specific courses have the possibility to use configured site level LTI tools. We think that this would be the most similar and equivalent option to our current behaviour with Moodle 4.1.

Cons: On Moodle 4.5 we just can filter by course categories, but not specific courses. So this potentially makes available LTI tools on hundreds of courses that they have not to use this tool, nor see it. We cannot manually manage courses since they are synced and they are supposed to appear in a certain location within Moodle course categories.

Proposal: Could be somehow possible to let specific courses use site level LTI tools? This is really potential needed, since LTI tools are paid from or make available to certain Departments or units inside the institutions (University in our case), so they cannot be made generally available, neither to a certain course category, but just to specific courses.

Specific proposal: Maybe some specific configuration for the LTI tool at site level, and then, administrators on the specific courses have an additional slider (like in "Show in activity chooser") to let that specific LTI tool be available on that course. So teacher could afterwards activate it with the slider "Show in activity chooser".

Cons: On Moodle 4.5 there are some settings on the LTI tools that does not apply. For instance, the setting "Tool configuration usage" has 3 options:

0 => Do not show; use only when a matching tool URL is entered
1 => Show as preconfigured tool when adding an external tool
2 => Show in activity chooser and as a preconfigured tool

As we have seen them: options 1 and 2 have the same effects: they appear as available for the teacher on the course section "More > LTI External tool".

Option 0 has no effect and apparently has no effect. Site level LTI tools with option 0 simply does not appear and cannot be used for new LTI tools.

Proposal: Enable that site level LTI tools be configured with this option 0 "Do not show; use only when a matching tool URL is entered" could be linked inside courses "More > LTI External tool" by simply matching the LTI "Tool URL". This would make possible to automatically for teachers be using this site level tool. This would help for specific cases, like ours, to enable on specific courses certain LTI tools.

Either from LTI tool configured at site level or courses level

When using deep linking, we choose a specific activity, for instance a quiz, on the LTI tool.

Cons: From Moodle 4.5 platform, as admin, as teacher, as student, we always enter into the LTI tool into the Moodle course, not into the specific quiz. Is it a known bug?

Final remarks

I made a search for "LTI" on the tracker and it seems to me there is no exact issue that matches all or part of these topics. Is MDL-84827 maybe related somewhow to this last Cons about deep linking?

Also, I set up this issue as an "Improvement", but maybe it should be configured as "Bug"?

Thanks

Jordi