LTI 1.3 Launch and Deep Linking: One Course Served to Several LMSs
If partners or business units each run their own LMS, LTI 1.3 lets them launch a course you host instead of re-uploading a package. Here is what launch and deep linking do, and what they do not.
Personal Academy, Engineering
A department of the team that builds Personal Academy
LTI 1.3 lets another LMS launch a course hosted in Personal Academy with single sign-on, and deep linking lets that LMS’s course manager pick which course to place. The content stays in one place, so an update reaches every placement. Two limits: grade return to the host gradebook and roster sync are not offered, and xAPI statements are received and stored in Personal Academy, not forwarded to another learning record store.
Core Findings & Takeaways
- LTI 1.3 is a launch standard: the host LMS signs the learner in to the tool with an OpenID Connect launch, so nobody keeps a second password.
- Deep linking lets a course manager in the host LMS choose the course to place; in Personal Academy only a member allowed to assign courses can make that choice.
- Not offered today: sending grades back to the host gradebook (Assignment and Grade Services) and roster sync (Names and Role Provisioning). xAPI statements are received, not forwarded.
Manual SCORM Distribution vs LTI 1.3 Launch
Every update means exporting a new package and asking each receiving LMS administrator to replace the old one, and the copies drift apart.
With LTI 1.3 launch the course is served from Personal Academy, so one edit reaches every placement; completions are recorded in Personal Academy, not in the host gradebook.
The Problem LTI Solves
Customer education teams, franchisors of training and companies with several business units often face the same situation: each partner or unit runs its own LMS. The usual answer is to export a SCORM package and send it to each administrator, who uploads it. Every later fix repeats the round, and the copies drift apart.
LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability, from 1EdTech) takes a different route. Instead of copying the course into each LMS, the host LMS opens it from the tool that holds it. There is one copy to maintain.
What Launch and Deep Linking Do in Personal Academy
A launch is a signed OpenID Connect message from the host LMS to Personal Academy. Personal Academy checks the signature against the host platform’s published keys, signs the learner in and opens the course. The launch handler is app/api/lti/launch/route.ts.
Deep linking is the step before: a course manager in the host LMS asks Personal Academy which content to place, and picks a course. The same launch handler refuses a deep-linking request from a member who is not allowed to assign courses.
What Is Not Offered, and How to Plan Around It
Grade return is not offered. The LTI 1.3 Assignment and Grade Services extension would let Personal Academy write a score into the host gradebook; today, completions and scores stay in Personal Academy. Roster sync (Names and Role Provisioning Services) is not offered either, so the host LMS does not push its class list to Personal Academy.
xAPI statements from connected sources are received at one endpoint (app/api/xapi/statements) and stored with the learner’s record; they are not forwarded to an external learning record store. If the host LMS must hold the grade of record, plan a report export from Personal Academy, or keep the course in a SCORM package for that host.
Written by
Personal Academy, Engineering
Standards (SCORM, xAPI, LTI), the API, webhooks and how the platform is built.
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