Configuring CertMaster Practice in Moodle (Version 3.9 or above) (LTI 1.1)

Applicable products: CertMaster Practice (LTI 1.1)

Create Preconfigured Tool

1. Logged in as an Admin, navigate to Site administration.

2. Click the Plugins tab, and select Manage tools in the Activity modules section.

3. Just below the Tool URL field, click ‘Alternatively, you can configure a tool manually.’

4. Open up the parameter documentation sent to you by your CompTIA Technical Specialist. In the following configuration screen, fill out the fields as follows:

   • Tool name: CertMaster <Product>

   • Tool URL: (Copy and paste the Tool URL endpoint from your documentation)

   • LTI version: LTI 1.0/1.1

   • Consumer key: (Copy and paste the Consumer key from your documentation)

   • Shared secret: (Copy and paste the Shared secret from your documentation)

   • Custom Parameters: (Copy and paste the Preconfigured Tool Custom Parameters from your documentation)

   • Tool configuration usage: Select ‘Show in activity chooser and as preconfigured tool’ if you’d like to make course building more convenient, or ‘Show as preconfigured tool when adding an external tool’ will also work if you prefer.

   • Default launch container: Whichever is your preference.

   • Supports Deep Linking (Content-Item Message): <Unchecked>

   • Content Selection URL: <Leave Empty>

5. Under Services, select the following:

   • IMS LTI Assignment and Grade Services: User this service for grade sync and column management

   • IMS LTI Names and Role Provisioning: User this service to retrieve members' information as per privacy settings

   • Tool Settings: Do not use this service

6. Under Privacy, select the following:

   • Share launcher's name with tool: Always

   • Share launcher's email with tool: Always

   • Accept grades from the tool: As specified in Deep Linking definition or Delegate to teacher

7. Click Save changes.

For more assistance, see the screenshots below.

Step 2. Click Manage tools under Site Administration → Plugins

Step 3. Click configure a tool manually in the Add tool box.

Example LTI 1.1 documentation that will be sent by your CompTIA integration specialist.

Example LTI 1.1 preconfigured tool configuration.

Appendix: Custom Parameter Definitions

CertMaster Practice utilizes a number of LTI custom parameters to affect how the LTI link functions and where it sends users. What do each of these custom parameters actually do?

Account Key (account_key)

The account_key parameter is exactly what it sounds like -- an identifier for your institution's CertMaster Practice account in our system. This identifies your launch as coming from your institution -- it's required for all tool links and will be the same across each one. This is why it's generally configured at the Preconfigured Tool level, rather than at the activity level.

Mode (mode)

The mode custom parameter simply declares whether the link will point toward Learner material or Instructor reporting. This parameter is required, and only has two possible values, 'Learning' and 'Reporting'. We generally configure this to be mode=Learning at the Preconfigured Tool level, as the majority of an institution's tool links will be Learner links. Additionally, most LMSes (Moodle included) only take the lowest-level of duplicate parameters, so if you want to create an Instructor link, you simply add mode=Reporting at the activity level, and it will overwrite the tool-level parameter.

Template External ID (template_xid)

The template_xid custom parameter is required for launch, and dictates which CertMaster Practice course that link sends users to. So if you've created a Learner Dashboard link that includes the parameter template_xid=yourinstitution_security701, that would take you to the Security+ 701 material for your school. Note that though these values dictate which course your link goes to, they are institution-specific, so please use the ones sent by your CompTIA integration specialist.

Module Key (module_key)

The module_key represents a single module/activity within the CertMaster Practice course, and the way it works is a bit trickier. It's optional, and if it's left out, the link will send the user to the Learner Dashboard for the full course. If it's included, two things happen: First, the link will send that user to that key's individual module in the course. Second, it enables that activity to pass grades back to your LMS gradebook. 

However, we generally only include one module_key parameter per course with the parameters we send out: the key for the full Practice Exam. Why don't we include a list of module keys for each module in the course? Though we can send them if you wish, we've found most customers prefer not to link every single module individually. This is due to the way CertMaster Practice works: almost all individual modules ask the user to answer the same questions over and over again until they've gotten them all correct. The module is not considered complete until the user answers every question correctly. Therefore, the only grade ever sent back from a completed module will be 100%, regardless of whether the learner got every question correct on the first try, or took many tries to do so.

The Practice Test, on the other hand, is graded more conventionally and will send back the grade the student scored on the test. As a result, it has considerably more use in most settings, as opposed to creating a whole course's worth of individual links that always send back 100's.