29 November 2023, 5:54

Hi,

I've got mahoodle LTI 1.1 working for both the external tool and assignment submission, however I'd like to just be able to add a link/jump to mahara from elsewhere in moodle eg in a top level/sitewide menu (like we currently do with mnet  & networking >peers).

So I've tried this example, creating a moodle course, guest access, single activity, and adding an external tool. I then put this course ID in the menu, then users click on that, go to the course and click on the external tool. So 2 clicks, instead of 1 really. And also it lands on a 'Submit a portfolio for assessment' page on mahara. I just want it to land on the mahara dashboard.

Has anyway found a workaround to implement direct links with LTI?

thanks,

Simon

29 November 2023, 7:54

Hi Simon,

We also never got this working like it should. We have tried to put an LTI activity on the Moodle Front Page, then hiding the front page and making that activity 'available but not visible'.

Unfortunately, this didn't work. The students probably don't have access to the Moodle Front Page. On the Moodle Dashboard page you can not add an lti activity.

We then tried to create a course with guest access, add the LTI activity there and use this link in the main menu. 

Unfortunately, this also didn't work. Moodle 'sees' LTI as an activity. Guests do not have access to an activity. Therefor, the link didn't work.

Last step we did: create one course to which everyone has standard student role. We made this the 'Mahara documentation' course. We added the lti activity there and used this link in the main menu.

This works... but with some problems.

We are using LTI 1.3 (advantage) and it seems that for every Moodle course the LTI to Mahara is placed in, a group is being created in Mahara with the name of that course. So in our case, everyone became member of the group 'Mahara documentation' in Mahara.

Still, this seemed to be the best solution for us. Why a group is being created I don't know. We now specifically told all our teachers not to add the Mahara LTI to their courses unless they want a group with the course name being created in Mahara.

I never found this behavior to be documented either, but alas, it worked. 

I'm glad to hear that you have gotten the Mahara WS Moodle assignment working. I saw your posts in the other threat, did you know what solved your problem?

29 November 2023, 9:12

Hi Richard,

If your course information comes along and everyone is placed into a group, you selected to use the option 'IMS LTI Names and Role Provisioning' in the configuration screen of LTI 1.3 Advantage in Moodle. Unticking that should not bring along that information and place everyone into a group.

Thank you

Kristina

30 November 2023, 0:30

Hi Kristina,

This is not the case. We have it set up like this:

Still we have the problem that users are being put into a group.

01 December 2023, 14:26

Hi Richard,

I cannot replicate this issue. When I don't allow the name and role provisioning service, there is no group created when I jump to Mahara. As soon as I turn it on, a group is created. When I then delete this group and turn off NRPS in Moodle, and log back in as teacher / manager, the group is not re-created.

Thank you

Kristina

30 November 2023, 1:23

Yes, I was following the thread, but didn't have a chance to try it until recently.

I think the main thing was the .htaccess file change. As we're on Windows/Apache. I also updated the plugin, but it wasn't until the .htaccess update that it worked without any error.

Can't remember who solved that, but thanks to yourself and the developers/participators who followed it up/tracked it down! Fully working now and gives us plenty more options going forward

29 November 2023, 9:06

Hi Simon,

It sounds like your activity has the setting 'Accept grades from the tool' option set under 'Privacy' in the activity setting. See the screenshot for where to locate that setting).

Cheers

Kristina

30 November 2023, 1:20

HI,

Thanks, that setting definitely helped, and I've found a way where it does it with 1 click:

• create a moodle course (unhidden)
• guest access
• single activity
• select external tool
• in tool settings make sure 'Accept grades from the tool' is unticked
• then copy the external tool link (with module id) from that page and put in the menu (or wherever)
• eg <a class="dropdown-item" href="https://moodle.abc.ac.uk/mod/lti/launch.php?id=149696">Mahara-LTI</a>
• Then users click on that, and it lands on the mahara dashboard
• Only current issue, is when logging out of mahara, it returns to the dummy moodle course

Seems to work ok at the moment.

30 November 2023, 3:17

Hi Simon,

We tried that, but it didn't work if I remember.

The reason being: a guest role can not start an activity in a Moodle course.

LTI is registered as an activity in Moodle, therefor guests should not be able to access the link.

Are you sure this worked?

01 December 2023, 14:28

Great that this worked for you, Simon. Did you change anything on the permissions for your guests so they can use that activity?

Cheers

Kristina