What is LTI 1.3 (Learning Tools Interoperability 1.3)?
Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) 1.3 is a 1EdTech standard for launching an external learning tool from a platform such as a university LMS. It uses OpenID Connect and signed JSON Web Tokens to pass the user, course and role securely. Optional services add Deep Linking for choosing content, grade return and roster sync.
How Personal Academy handles it
Personal Academy launches its courses from an LTI 1.3 platform such as Canvas, with Deep Linking to pick the course, and can launch external LTI 1.3 tools from a lesson; grade return and roster sync are not offered yet.
A worked example
Suppose a 300-person training college runs its programmes in a university-style LMS but wants one short course from another provider. The administrator registers the provider as an LTI 1.3 tool, then uses Deep Linking inside a module to choose the course. Students click the link and arrive in the course already signed in. Because grade return is not available in that setup, the tutor records completion in the college LMS by hand.
LTI began in the education market as a simple way for an LMS to open a third-party tool in a frame and tell it who the user was. Early versions used OAuth 1.0 signatures and shared secrets. LTI 1.3, released by IMS Global (now 1EdTech), replaced that with a modern security model.
In an LTI 1.3 launch, the platform and the tool exchange configuration in advance: client identifiers, key set URLs and endpoints. When a user clicks a link, the platform starts an OpenID Connect login, and the tool receives a signed ID token describing the user, their role in the course and the resource being launched. The tool checks the signature against the platform keys and creates a session.
LTI Advantage is a set of optional services on top of the core launch. Deep Linking lets an instructor choose a specific piece of content inside the tool and place it in the course. Assignment and Grade Services let the tool send scores back to the platform gradebook. Names and Role Provisioning Services let the tool read the course roster. A product can implement the core launch and some services but not others.
For corporate buyers, LTI matters mostly when training is shared with education partners, or when one platform needs to open another without a second login. The useful questions are which side of the launch the product can take, platform or tool, and which Advantage services are actually in place, because a product that launches but cannot return grades still leaves manual record keeping.