Integrating with an LMS

Brightcove Interactivity is integrated into a variety of Learning Management Systems (LMS). Our customers deploy interactive videos to train employees, inform customers and teach students using both our integrated Editor, Viewer and Gradebook to capture answers and award grades.

The Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) Integration Module allows LMS users to access Brightcove Interactivity tools and experiences directly from within the LMS environment. The module introduces a new concept called an "Interactive Video Lesson". Instructors can create an Interactive Video Lesson as part of an LMS Assignment. Learners can access the Interactive Video Lesson and have their interactions recorded as the score in the LMS Gradebook for the Assignment.

Key features and benefits

• Single Sign On solution that enables LMS authenticated users to access the Brightcove Interactivity toolset directly within Learning Management Systems
• ROLE-based privileges
  • Instructors can:
    • Create interactive videos utilizing Brightcove Interactivity authoring tools
    • Add in-video questions in order to determine a grade/score
    • Embed interactive videos as LMS Assignments
  • Students / Learners can:
    • Access and interact with interactive video lesson assignments
• Grades / Scores are recorded directly into the LMS Gradebook

Prerequisites

• You must have a Learning Management System that supports the LTI 1.1.1 Specification (https://www.imsglobal.org/specs/ltiv1p1p1/implementation-guide)
• You must have a valid Brightcove Interactivity Enterprise or Brightcove Interactivity Platform license
• You must have the Brightcove Interactivity LTI Module enabled on your HapYak account
• Web Browsers utilizing the solution must be HTML5 compatible
• All connections to the solution must utilize HTTPS protocol
  • If you are using video resources hosted by a 3rd party (such as YouTube), you must ensure they are accessible over an HTTPS connection
• Firewalls in place on the networks from which the solution is accessed must whitelist: "*.hapyak.com"

Setup

• Contact your Brightcove Account Manager to enable the LTI Integration Module on your account
• Your Brightcove Account Manager will provide you with technical information that you must record and provide to your LMS administrator.
  • lti_consumer_key
  • lti_consumer_secret
  • lti_url
• Your LMS Administrator will use the information that is provided to configure Brightcove Interactivity as an LTI Provider inside of your LMS.

Technical specifications

Object model

• LTI Master Group (corresponding to the Brightcove Interactivity issued LTI credentials)
  • LTI Context Group (corresponding to the LMS issued context_id)
    • Brightcove Interactivity Editor (corresponding to the LMS reports user, if role = instructor)
    • Brightcove Interactivity Experience (corresponding to the LMS issued resource_id)
      • Brightcove Interactivity Layout of type "Lesson"
        • Scoring Module (specified by Experience configuration)

Authoring/Instructor flow diagram

Full resolution version here

Student/Learner flow diagram

How grading works

The LTI standard allows for recording a score between 0 and 1 to the LMS Gradebook for a given assignment. Brightcove Interactivity implements scoring algorithms that analyze viewing metrics, interaction data, and answered questions in order to derive the score value.

Our standard algorithm can be configured to score based on either the amount of the video that has been viewed, or the answers to in-video questions.

• If the "view-time" algorithm is used, the learner will be given a score of 1 if they watch 90% of the video
• If the "questions" algorithm is used, the learner will be given an additive score of 1/number of questions for each question answered correctly

The score is calculated at the completion of the video when the learner presses the "Submit Score" button. Once a score has been submitted to the LMS Gradebook it cannot be resubmitted.

What this means…

• No scores will be recorded in the LMS Gradebook unless the learner presses the submit button at the end of the video.
• A learner must complete any scoring requirements in one viewing. For example:
  • If a video contains 4 questions the learner is not allowed to answer 2 questions, leave, then come back later to answer the final 2 questions and submit their score. They must answer all 4 questions and submit their score in the same viewing.
  • If a score is awarded by watching 90% of the video, a learner must watch 90% of the video and submit their score during the same viewing.

LMS assignment and interactive video lesson relationship

As per the LTI specification the LMS will pass Brightcove Interactivity a context_id and a resource_id upon accessing an assignment. Together, the context_id and the resource_id are used by Brightcove Interactivity to lookup the Brightcove Interactivity Group and interactive video lesson being requested.

The context_id is used by Brightcove Interactivity to segregate data and access privileges internally. Brightcove Interactivity associates one group for each context_id. The resource_id is used by Brightcove Interactivity to associate an Interactive Video Lesson within that Group.

What this means…

• It is assumed that the context_id encodes the course, session, section and/or other necessary details to define a unique Group.
• Since an Interactive Video Lesson is associated with a single resource_link_id, and each LMS Assignment has a unique resource_link_id, it cannot be used in more than one Assignment.

Only scores are recorded in the LMS Gradebook

The LTI specification allows only for assignment scores to be recorded in the LMS Gradebook. This means that the LMS will only be able to access the score achieved for the assignment as a whole, not the score for each individual question that may have been asked in the video.

What this means…

• The text of the questions and answers submitted by a student will not be present in the LMS gradebook. Instead the Assignment and the achieved Score will be.

End-to-End system certifications

While all LMSs which support the LTI 1.1.1 standard are expected to be fully compliant, the Brightcove Interactivity team has fully tested and certified the following major Learning Management Systems.

• Moodle v.X
• Canvas by Instructure (canvas.instructure.com)

User experience narratives

The workflow for any learning management system is slightly different. The narratives below are here to conceptually describe the user experience and how it impacts the underlying system.

ROLE: Instructor

• The instructor will
  • Log in to the LMS
  • Create a new assignment in their course
  • Click the "LTI" button and select HapYak as the Provider
    • The Brightcove Interactivity authoring tools will load within the LMS
• The instructor will
  • Use the Brightcove Interactivity authoring tools to provide, or upload a video and add interactive elements and annotations
  • Preview the experience as a student would see it
• All changes are auto-saved, so there is no need to press "Save". Once the instructor is satisfied with the experience they can close out of the tool
• The instructor will
  • Publish the course and make the assignment available to students as per their standard LMS workflow.
• After students access the Assignment the Instructor can then review scores in the LMS gradebook

ROLE: Student

• The student will
  • Log in to the LMS
  • Access the Assignment containing an Interactive Video Lesson
  • Watch the video and answers in-video questions
  • Click a ‘Submit Score’ button that clearly indicates that they are turning in their assignment for credit.
    • At this point their numeric grade is calculated based on the implemented algorithm and sent to the LMS Gradebook
  • A student can NOT re-submit their assignment for credit
  • The student can review their score in the LMS gradebook

Learning Management Systems known to support LTI

• Sakai
• Blackboard
• Moodle
• Coursera
• Canvas
• Desire2Learn
• Topyx (pending Outcomes API implementation)