D2l is a strong champion of the 1Edtech LTI specification and is heavily involved at the strategic and working group levels. We know that there are many concerns and questions regrading the upcoming end of support of 1Edtech for legacy LTI versions. We would like to take an opportunity to update our clients and partners on our progress and roadmap for the LTI 1.1 Migration.
After June 30 2021, 1Edtech no longer certified legacy versions of LTI, and after June 2022 will no longer support legacy LTI implementations (1.1x -1.2 and 2.0). In light of this change, D2L will focus on support and improvement of LTI Advantage adherence and will start the process of sunsetting legacy LTI versions. Currently, End of Life of legacy LTI tools is more than six months out and does not yet have a date. This means that clients can continue to use legacy LTI and legacy LTI tools in Brightspace for now. We want to support the migration of our clients' existing legacy LTI links to LTI Advantage in a flexible way with empathy for the difficult change management that may be in store for them as they uplift or find alternatives to older tools that are now unsupported by 1Edtech.
Migrations are being addressed using a phased approach with both Bulk and Course-level Migration options planned.
Migration Toggle
A dedicated migration toggle is now released with the default OFF for each LTI 1.3 Advantage deployment to provide additional controls around the auto-migration process. Clients who previously enabled migration from LTI 1.1 to 1.3 by enabling the deployment and adding the sharing rules and who want to continue with auto-migration must enable this toggle for each deployment.
Figure: The Auto Migrate Links toggle switch in LTI Tool Deployment Settings.
This toggle is needed to better serve the subset of clients who do not want to follow the migration work process and want to have both 1.1 and 1.3 links working at the same time. It is potentially disruptive to existing clients familiar with the migration process.
Limitations of Migration Phases
The migration phases have limitations around troubleshooting course links, Domain Matching, Grades, and the Visibility setting as described below. For more information, see the Migration FAQ.
Troubleshooting Broken Course Links
In rare occasions, LTI links can be migrated successfully from 1.1 to 1.3 as reported in the migration audit table but still result in a non-functional link in the course. It is always recommended to check every link that is migrated to ensure the migration process was successful.
Domain Matching
- An exact match between the link URL and the registration domain is needed. The only exception is that the URL will be updated from http to https. Adding or changing a subdomain will prevent migration from being attempted.
- Links shared from other org units will not be migrated even if they look eligible based on domain matching.
Grades
- Additional grade entries created using D2L’s Valence APIs not associated with an LTI link cannot be migrated with the existing migration phases. Grades created through legacy LTI basic outcomes will be migrated so they can be used with LTI Advantage Assignment and Grade Services.
- Single-grade entries will be migrated, but the grade can’t be sent by the tool unless AGS is enabled.
Visibility/Enabled
- The Visibility setting is not supported in 1.3 and there is no migration plan for this property.
- 1.3 only supports Enabled. When links are migrated to 1.3, they are enabled by default.
Phase One: July 2020
Phase one migration is possible through a Brightspace API that was released in July of 2020. Using the API, an individual LTI link can be migrated. For details, please see a description available in our documentation.
Phase Two: June 2022
Phase two migration allows for link migration via Course Import, which follows the Common Cartridge best practice from 1Edtech. This feature is currently in the client testing phase and was made generally available in the June 2022 release. For details, please see a description available in our documentation.
Setting up an LTI Advantage tool that matches the domain of the legacy 1.1 links and is properly shared to where the course will be imported will result in the legacy links being uplifted. All other legacy LTI links (for example, those with no matching LTI Advantage tool domain or available deployment to that org unit) will be untouched and continue to function as a 1.1 LTI link.
Phase Three: September 2022
Phase three migration is the addition of link migration via Course Copy and a new Migration Audit Log to track your progress on migrating legacy links. This was included in our September release.
Figure: The Migration Log tab on the External Learning Tools page.
When courses are copied, similar to Import, legacy LTI links that have matching LTI Advantage tools (registration/deployment/sharing rules) will be uplifted to LTI 1.3. All other legacy LTI links with no match will be untouched and continue to function as 1.1 links.
The Migration Audit Log will show the migration jobs that occurred at the org and course level, the links that were migrated or errored, and details on all link migrations to aid in troubleshooting. In this release, it is an org level permission only.
Also in this release, we will alter the user interface to refer to LTI 1.1 tool and links tabs as ‘Legacy’ and provide information about the LTI migration process.
Figure: The External Learning Tools page showing the message "You can now migrate from LTI 1.1".
Phase Four: November 2022
Phase four migration will be the addition of a course-specific migration trigger that can be used to uplift courses that will not go through a copy or import process; or to re-run courses after fixing issues or after new tools are set up in LTI Advantage. This was released in late 2022. The LTI Link Migration Audit Brightspace Data Set was released in early 2023, which allows our customers to query data on LTI migration status.
In phase four, course-level permissions and a separation of the 'manage migration' permission from the 'view audit log' permissions will be available to allow instructors to run the migration for their courses or to see their migration audit log. Setting up LTI Advantage tools and deployments remains an admin-level task.
After phase four, we will take stock of outliers to any of these processes and consult with clients on how we can better support their unique migration needs for custom tools as necessary. We are meeting with partners that we know have different constraints on the migration to LTI 1.3. We cannot meet with all tool providers, and we do recommend that our clients contact their tool providers to understand how to migrate to LTI Advantage and if there will be issues with that migration (for example, changing tool domains, inability to have 1.1 and 1.3 options enabled at the same time).
End of Life
Any End of Life of the Legacy LTI tools will be announced through our typical EOL process and timelines. As it is more than 6 months out, we have no date to communicate at this time. D2L anticipates supporting our customers in their LTI migration journey for the next 2 years.
At D2L, we understand this transition will be impactful for our clients and we want to emphasize that we are partners in this process with you. We have planned our migration to be iterative, flexible, and supportive of the wide range of legacy implementations that may exist. As our roadmap progresses, we will update this blog article.
