Determine Content Addresses when using Open edX as an LTI Provider

Determine Content Addresses when using Open edX as an LTI Provider#

Tags: educator how-to

Note

This feature was a closed pilot experiment. This feature is not supported for new users.

To include the content of an existing course in another system, you use the Open edX LMS to find the location identifiers for the content you want to include. You then format the identifiers into an LTI URL.

You might find using a tool like a spreadsheet helpful as a way to organize the course ID and each of the usage IDs that correspond to the course content you want to include in an external LMS.

Find the Course ID#

The identifier for your course can be in one of these formats.

  • {key type}:{org}+{course}+{run}, for example, course-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+2024

  • {org}/{course}/{run} (for courses created prior to 2015), for example, OpenedX/DemoX/2014

Courses created since Fall 2014 typically have an ID that uses the first format, while older courses have IDs that use the second format.

To find the course ID for your course, follow these steps.

  1. In your Open edX LMS, open your course.

  2. In the URL shown by your browser, find the course ID.

For example, you open the “Open edX Demo Course” course to the Course page for the course. The URL for the Course page is https://training.openedx.io/courses/course-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+Demo_Course/about. From the URL, you determine that the course ID is course-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+Demo_Course.

The same course ID applies to every item of content in the course.

Finding the Usage ID for Course Content#

The identifier for a specific component, unit, or subsection in your course can be in one of these formats.

  • {key type}:{org}+{course}+{run}+type@{type}+block@{display name}, for example, block-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+Demo_Course+type@sequential+block@basic_questions

  • i4x:;_;_{org};_{course};_{type};_{display name}, for example, i4x:;_;_OpenedX;_DemoX;_sequential;_basic_questions

Courses created since Fall 2014 typically have usage IDs in the first format, while older courses have usage IDs in the second format.

The following terms are used in the usage identifiers to indicate subsections, units, and components.

Studio

Page Source

subsection

sequential

unit

vertical

component

problem, html, or video

The example usage IDs shown above include the word “sequential”, so they indicate subsections in a course.

Several methods are available to help you find the usage IDs for items in your course.

To find the usage ID for a unit or a component in the LMS, you can use either of these methods.

To find the usage ID for a subsection, you view the page source.

Note

You must have the Staff or Admin role in a course to follow these procedures for finding usage IDs.

View Staff Debug Info for the Usage ID#

To find the usage ID for a unit or component in the LMS, follow these steps.

  1. In your Open edX LMS, open the course.

  2. Select Course, and then go to the page that contains the unit or component.

  3. Select Staff Debug Info.

  4. To find the usage ID for a component, find the location.

    For example, location = block-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+Demo_Course+type@html+block@054cef851ecc415e969cd82c06a3307b

  5. To find the usage ID for a unit, scroll down to find the parent.

    For example, parent  block-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+Demo_Course+type@vertical+block@7be7c1ea72f94d08b8bca998aa81f898

The usage ID value begins with block-v1 for newer courses or i4x:// for older courses. If you are using a spreadsheet to organize your location identifiers, you can select the usage ID value, and then copy and paste it into the spreadsheet.

To close the Staff Debug viewer, click on the browser page outside of the viewer.

For more information, see Guide to Staff Debug Info.

View the Page Source for the Usage ID#

To find the usage ID for a subsection, unit, or component, you view the HTML page source for that page of the course.

To find the usage ID for a subsection, unit, or component, follow these steps.

  1. In your Open edX LMS, open your course.

  2. Select Course, and then go to the page with the content that you want to include in an external LMS.

  3. Open the HTML source for the page. For example, in a Chrome browser you right click on the page, and then select View Page Source.

  4. Use your browser’s Find feature to locate the term data-usage-id. This attribute contains the usage ID. ..note:: This step needs review because is not working in the last versions of the Open edX platform.

  5. Review the value for the usage id to determine the part of the course it identifies: the sequential (subsection), a unit (vertical) or a specific component (problem, html, or video).

    Important

    You might need to search beyond the first match to retrieve the usage ID for the content you want to identify. Be sure to check the data-usage-id for sequential, vertical, or problem, html, or video to be sure that you specify the content that you want.

For example, you want to link to a subsection in the Open edX Demo course. You open the course, go to the problem, and then right click to view the page source. When you search for data-usage-id, the first match is block-v1:OpenedX+DemoX+Demo_Course+type@sequential+block@basic_questions. You verify that this usage ID value is for the subsection by checking for the presence of sequential.

If you are using a spreadsheet to organize your location identifiers, you can select the usage ID value within the quotation marks or " ISO codes, and then copy and paste it into the spreadsheet.

Constructing the LTI URL#

To identify the edX content that you want to include in an external LMS, you provide its URL. This URL has the following format.

https://{host}/lti_provider/courses/{course_id}/{usage_id}

To construct the LTI URL, you add your course ID and the specific content ID.

Examples of the possible formats for an LTI URL follow.

LTI URLs for a subsection include “sequential”, as follows.

https://openedx-lti.org/lti_provider/courses/course-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1/block-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1+type@sequential+block@4e1de5e13fc3422997fe246b40a43aa1/block-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1+type@vertical+block@78b75020d3894fdfa8b4994f97275294

LTI URLs for a unit include “vertical”, as follows.

https://openedx-lti.org/lti_provider/courses/course-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1/block-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1+type@vertical+block@78b75020d3894fdfa8b4994f97275294

LTI URLs for Text components include “html+block” or “html”, as follows.

https://openedx-lti.org/lti_provider/courses/course-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1/block-v1:OpenedX+01-2024+2024-1+type@html+block@f9f3a25e7bab46e583fd1fbbd7a2f6a0

See also

Using Open edX as an LTI Tool Provider (concept)

Create a Duplicate Course for LTI use (how-to)

Planning for Content Reuse (LTI) (reference)

Example: Open edX as an LTI Provider to Canvas (reference)

Example: edX as an LTI Provider to Blackboard Provider (reference)

Maintenance chart

Review Date

Working Group Reviewer

Release

Test situation
Contents