External tools is a relatively new Moodle plug-in which was added to Moodle 2.3. This little plugin is well worth a look if you are the type of instructor who uses a lot of education technology that doesn’t fit within the Moodle fold. What External tools does is allow for integration with online e-learning tools through the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) specification. It is a little gem that allows your Moodle users to move into and out of a learning tool outside of Moodle seamlessly. Whats more is that all the performance data that the external learning tool generates on the Moodle learners will be passed back to Moodle and straight into the gradebook as if it was just another Moodle activity.
In order for this all to work the external tool must be a ‘LTI provider’. A list of learning LTI providers can be found at: http://www.edu-apps.org/index.html . Check it out!
We have been providing clients with help and guidance on the IMS LTI specification for some time. If you need any help, please let us know. For more information on the specification please see: http://www.imsglobal.org/toolsinteroperability2.cfm
