This article provides a step-by-step guide how to configure and install CirQlive MEETS as an LTI tool in your Blackboard Learn LMS.

MEETS offers the option to set up MEETS using LTI 1.0/1.1 as well as LTI 1.3. Choose the option that fits you best.

LTI 1.3 installation instructions can be seen in section B


A. LTI 1.0/1.1

Stage 1. LTI installation on the Admin Panel


When logged in as an administrator, go to the "System Admin" tab and click on the link to the "Building Blocks" page in the "Building Blocks" section.



On the Building Blocks page, click on the "LTI Tool Providers" link.



On the LTI Tool Providers page, click the "Register Provider Domain" button.



For the following section, you will need the Provider Domain, Key, Secret and URL provided to you in the MEETS Admin Panel when first setting up a MEETS instance. (to retrieve your LTI credentials, please see: Creating a MEETS integration instance for your LMS)

Alternatively, CirQlive may not have provided you with a MEETS Admin Panel. In this case, you will have received a Provider Domain, Key, Secret and URL directly from CirQlive which you can use when following the steps below. 


Section 1, "Provider Domain Status":

  • For "Provider Domain", enter the Domain (which you received from the MEETS Admin Panel or directly from CirQlive)
  • Set the "Provider Domain Status" to "Approved".



Section 2, "Default Configuration":

  • Set the "Default Configuration" to "Set Globally"
  • For "Tool Provider Key", enter the Key (which you received from the MEETS Admin Panel or directly from CirQlive)
  • For "Tool Provider Secret", enter the Secret (which you received from the MEETS Admin Panel or directly from CirQlive)
  • For "Tool Provider Custom Parameters", enter:

override_user_id=@X@user.pk_string@X@

override_context_id=@X@course.pk_string@X@

 

Note: these custom parameters are important for ensuring compatibility of Blackboard Learn's LTI connection and must be entered exactly as given.



Section 3, "Institution Policies":

  • Set "Send User Data" to "only over SSL".
  • Make sure all "User Fields to Send" options are checked.
  • Set "Show User Acknowledgment Message" to "No".



Finally, click "Submit".




Stage 2. Creating an LTI Tool placement


After submitting the information from Stage 1, you should be taken back to the "LTI Tool Providers" page (to otherwise access this page, see beginning of Stage 1). You will now see the newly created domain. Hover over the dropdown arrow (on the right hand side of the name of the domain) and select "Manage Placements" to bring up the placement management page. Click on "Create Placement".




Note: for the purpose of this guide, we will use "MEETS" as the name of the LTI tool. You can, however, substitute this name with the name of your choice in the following steps.


Section 1,"Placement Information":

  • For "Label", enter the name of the platform, "MEETS".
  • For "Handle", enter "MEETS" as well.
  • For "Type", Select "Student Tool".



Section 2, "Tool Provider Information"

  • For "Tool Provider URL", enter the URL (which you received from the MEETS Admin Panel or directly from CirQlive)
  • All other necessary fields should be automatically pre-filled with the information you entered in Stage 1.



Click "Submit".




Stage 3.  LTI installation in a course


Go to a course page to which you wish to add a MEETS LTI connection. On the left-hand panel, click on the "+" sign to bring up the "Add menu item" dropdown.and select "Tool Link".



In the "Add Tool Link" popup: 

  • For the name of the tool, enter  "MEETS".
  • Select "MEETS" from the "Type" dropdown. (If you gave the tool a different name than "MEETS" in Stage 2, then this dropdown will contain that name instead)
  • Ensure that the "Available to Users" option is checked.
  • Click "Submit".



You should now have a link to MEETS appear in the left-hand menu of the course page, giving your users direct, one-click access to the MEETS platform.



If you set this course up to be used as a template, any courses created from it will automatically contain the MEETS link. However, courses created from this template will not contain the data from the MEETS link in the original course.



Adding MEETS to additional courses


To add MEETS to more than one course (without using a template), simply repeat Stage 3 for each course. (Stages 1 and 2 only need to be done once per site and instance)



B) LTI 1.3


When setting up LTI 1.3, you will need to transfer information between BBL and MEETS Administration. Open MEETS Administration platform connection settings as well as the BBL external tool configuration as described below. 


1.  Open the MEETS site Administration. On the "Platform Connections" page, create an LTI instance for Blackboard, or go to an existing instance and press on the "link" button to get the LTI information. For more information  Please see:  Creating a MEETS integration instance for your LMS.


Choose LTI 1.3


In the "Installation configuration" window that opens, choose the encryption settings supported by your LMS and approved by your security team. Blackboard is known to support an "Encryption Type" of "Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA)" and "Signing Algorithm" of "RS256". Choose your desired "Key Size", "3072-Bit" is the default, and the option recommended by the US National Security Agency in 2016. After choosing your preferred options, press "Generate".



You will now have the data needed to enter into the Brightspace setup as you can see in the following screenshot.

Keep this window opened as you will need to enter data into it from Blackboard as will be explained below.



2.  Go to your Blackboard Developer account (you can create an account for free if you do not have one), and create a new application. The direct link to the application page is https://developer.blackboard.com/portal/applications


Give the application a name and description, turn on "My Integration supports LTI 1.3". Enter the data from the MEETS admin panel above. Choose the signing algorithm of RS512.

Press "Register Application".



You will now get information to enter into the MEETS admin panel. You can always get this information again by going to the application in the Blackboard Developer account and pressing on "Edit".

Please note that the Deployment ID is not in this page, but will be gotten from another location shortly.

Press "Done"



3.  Go to the Blackboard Learn platform to set up the LTI.

Go to the Administrator Panel>LTI Tool Providers>Register LTI 1.3/Advantage Tool


Enter the Application ID that you got from the Blackboard Developer site into the field of Client ID.

Press "Submit"





The platform will prefill the fields with the data from the Blackboard Developer platform.

You will see a field here named "Deployment ID". Copy that value into the corresponding field in the MEETS admin panel.

Set the Tool Status to "Approved"

Check all User Fields; Role in Course, Name and Email Address.

Disallow Grade Access, and Allow Membership Service Access.

Press Submit.



4) Go to the MEETS admin panel to finalize the settings.

In the "Installation configuration" window in the MEETS admin panel, it is more convenient to check the box for "Automatically recheck the LMS Public Key URL for key updates" as it will prevent the platform failing to connect in the event of a change to the key in Blackboard. Please see the comment next to that option.

You can change the settings based on your preferred security preferences. 

Press "Save" or "Save and Close". You can now close the MEETS Installation configuration page.




5) Now set up MEETS on the course page.

Go back to the LTI Tool Providers page on the Admin panel in Blackboard Learn.

Press on the dropdown on the LTI tool, and Manage Placements.