Building Scalable IMS LTI Tools Using the TSUGI Framework

Charles SeveranceUniversity of Michigan School of Information

Longsight, Inc.

Disclaimer...

What I am about to talk about is not an official direction or position of the University of Michigan, Longsight, nor IMS Global.

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Installation Instructions

www.tsugi.org

Project Tsugi

• Tool Hosting Container (i.e. Like a B2)– PHP now, Java planned

• Based on IMS Specifications– LTI 1.x / LTI 2.x / IMS Settings / Common

Cartridge / Caliper / CASA / Roster / Gradebook / ....

• Tools can run on a campus hosting platform or commercial provider or cloud

• Tools are "installed" into hosting containers

From the 2003 Sakai Proposal

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~csev/papers/2004/2004_03_01_mellon_sakai_proposal.pdf

...

WTD?

LTI

PHPJavaC#

...

But...

"Large Midwestern University"

Sakai

.......

Looks pretty cool.... But...

Sakai

• Where is the user data??• What happens when there are 50 apps?• What if the app is free and hosted by a

professor?• What happens if we stop paying the license?

Neo-ColonialismLTI-style

LTI 1.x versus LTI 2.x and Beyond

• LTI 1.x – Three pages of spec and some "hello world" code

• LTI 2.x – Several specs – multiple interactions– We will need to share common implementations

across instructions• And what about Caliper, Casa, xAPI, etc. ??

Multiple LMS Campus + App Store

AppStore Tool Tool Tool Tool...

Multiple LMS Campus + App Store

AppStore Tool Tool Tool Tool

TsugiHostingContainer Tool ToolTool

...

Install

TsugiExp

Multiple LMS Campus + App Store

AppStore Tool Tool Tool Tool

TsugiProd Tool ToolTool

...

www.tsugi.org

• Install / Configuration similar to Moodle• Emulate the Moodle APIs / Runtime• Multi-tenant • Cookie free (i.e. loves iframes)• Uses PDO with some rules about FK for easy

cleanup• Auto-ddl feature to upgrade schema

PHP Tsugi

PHP Tsugi Tool Code

<?phprequire_once "../../config.php";require_once $CFG->dirroot."/lib/lms_lib.php";

$LTI = lti_require_data(array('user_id', 'result_id', 'role','context_id'));

$displayname = $USER->displayname;

// Start of the output$OUTPUT->header();$OUTPUT->start_body();

...

$OUTPUT->footer();

Demos

• https://lti-tools.dr-chuck.com/tsugi/

• https://qa10.longsight.com/– Join site "TSUGI Test"

PHP Tsugi Next Steps

• Architecture Review / Critique• Internationalization – need help• Outreach to the Moodle community• IMS LTI 2.0 Support• xAPI support• IMS Caliper Support• IMS Casa Support

Tsugi is in 24x7 production and I can support a few experimenters on my servers.

Java Tsugi Dreams

Sakai

SakaiTool

Sakai

Blackboard

B2Tool

B2

I am not in a rush to do the Java port. I want to stay agile and use PHP as an architecture proof of concept.

The Java port will be simple and fast with PHP in hand.

Java Tsugi Dreams

Sakai

TsugiTool

Tsugi

SakaiTool

Sakai

Blackboard

TsugiTool

Tsugi

B2Tool

B2 AmazonEBS

TsugiTool

Tsugi

Tomcat

TsugiTool

Tsugi

Thinking Big...

• I hope to bring TSUGI to Apereo Incubation before next conference

• I would like to build a tool ecology to benefit all teachers regardless of LMS

• I want us to own our data and cloud choices• I want to see Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, and

D2L schools joining Apereo

Questions...

www.tsugi.org