Note: The information below applies to customers who already have an LMS integration with CompTIA. If you are interested in establishing an integration, please contact your Sales representative to be connected with our Integration team. For additional details on setup, refer to our integration configuration articles.
CompTIA’s LTI 1.3 tools leverage LTI Advantage Services — specifically Deep Linking and Assignment and Grade Services (AGS) — to send grades from our learning platforms directly to your LMS, typically within seconds after an activity is completed.
Requirements for Grade Sync
Tool configuration requirements
Your LMS must support LTI 1.3 with Advantage Services (Deep Linking and AGS) and have these features enabled. Settings vary by LMS. Consult your LMS-specific configuration guide or contact your CompTIA Integration specialist for assistance.
Course build requirements
Only one LMS assignment should be associated with each graded activity in a given course.
When the LTI link is first created, the activity must be set to 'Graded' during the Deep Linking dialogue.
User requirements
The user must have the Student or Learner role in both the LMS course and CertMaster
The user must have begun their current CertMaster session by clicking an integration link in the correct LMS course. (They cannot login manually, or enter through a different LMS course.)
The user must maintain a stable internet connection during activity completion.
The activity must have been completed within the start and end dates of the LMS course
Frequently Asked Questions
Grades are not syncing. Help!
Please visit our separate article: LMS Integration: Grade Sync Troubleshooting
How quickly do grades sync?
Grades typically appear in the LMS within 20 seconds of activity completion.
The exception is the very first time a grade is passed to a given LMS course. This first grade can take up to 10 minutes, as automated class and grade endpoint setup occurs in the CertMaster backend.
Can I set a custom point value for assignments in the LMS?
Yes, you can set the point values for assignments to whatever you like, and it will work how you hope.
When the links are first created by the LTI tool, a default point value is provided based on how CertMaster grades the activity, but that is simply a recommendation. During grade syncing, the result is sent as a percentage, which your LMS then applies to whatever point value the assignment has in the LMS.
Does copying/importing/blueprinting courses break anything?
In general, grades will still sync in a copied, imported, or blueprinted course, as long as the new course is still in scope of your LTI tool with regard to your LMS's hierarchy.
In Canvas, there is one caveat: if you share your Canvas with other institutions that also have their own CertMaster LTI deployments, the destination course (either the course copy, or the course being synced from a blueprint) must already be assigned to the sub-account where it needs to live at the time of the copying or blueprinting. If a course is copied/blueprinted, and then later reassigned to a sub-account that has a different deployment, grade sync can break for that course.
Which Activities Can Return Grades?
All items except Section Headers can be set to return grades. Readings and videos will return a 1/1 after the student spends one minute on the page.
When creating the links with the CertMaster LTI Adv tool, you will be prompted to select which items should sync grades with your LMS and which should be ungraded.
How much setup is required?
The integration tool must be configured to accept grades during initial setup, and the links created must be set to 'Graded' during the Deep Linking dialogue. In all supported LMSes, the gradebook column is automatically created when links are added to a course in this way.
Can I choose which grade is sent (highest or most recent)?
The integration defaults to sending the Highest grade a student achieves on a given activity, but this can be set to Most Recent by CompTIA Support if desired. This setting is institution-wide, and it will affect all classes that use the integration.
Can I restrict the number of attempts a student can make?
In general, no, though there are a couple of exceptions and notes:
Custom Quizzes and Competency Assessments only allow one attempt by default. This can be changed in the CertMaster Custom Quiz scheduling dialogue. All other course resources can be taken as often as the student would like.
Some LMSes allow instructors to filter grades by date or attempt number. Note that controls like this only apply to the LMS gradebook — learners may still retake activities in CertMaster, where the highest attempt remains recorded.
For example, Canvas offers an “Allowed Attempts” assignment setting that locks the grade after a specified number of submissions. If utilized, this setting will cause Canvas to reject any grades received for an activity after that maximum attempt number is reached. However, the student is still permitted to retake the item in CertMaster, where grades will continue to be recorded.
Can grades be resynced if there is an issue?
Yes. Currently, this feature is only usable by CompTIA Support on request, but a customer-facing Grade Resync tool is on CompTIA's near-term development roadmap.