How do I issue my Open Badges from Blackboard?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• About LTI
• Connecting Factory to Blackboard
  • Step 1: Add LTI Tool
  • Step 2: Create REST API Integration
  • Step 3: Add Tool Deployment to Factory
• Usage
  • Add LTI Link to Courses
  • Issuing a Badge to Course Participants
  • Issuing a Badge Automatically on Course Completion or Score
  • Adding Badge Applications for a Course
  • Reviewing Badge Applications
  • Issuing History
  • Student View
• Badge Issuance Behaviour

About LTI

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard developed by 1EdTech Consortium, which allows courseware and learning tools from different vendors to be launched within a learning platform, often an LMS.

LTI Integration provides a link between an LTI-supported LMS and your account in Factory. Our customers can use LTI 1.3 integration with Blackboard. LTI integration requires a Pro subscription level. LTI 1.3 has a more straightforward upgrade path than other versions and the full support and endorsement of major platform providers.

Note:

This integration can also be used for the CanCred Factory platform, powered by Open Badge Factory technology. Simply use the host name factory.cancred.ca instead of openbadgefactory.com

Connecting Factory to Blackboard

First, check in your Blackboard LMS that LTI tools are enabled. Go to System > Admin tools and Utilities: Tools. Look for the tool labelled LTI and make sure the availability for this tool is set to on.

Step 1: Add LTI Tool

Log in to Factory and go to Admin Tools → LTI. Choose Version: 1.3 and LMS: Blackboard. On this page you can see the configuration values you need to connect the tool to Blackboard.

In Blackboard:

1. Go to System Admin → Integrations → LTI Tool Providers
2. Click Register LTI 1.3/Advantage Tool
3. Copy and paste the Client ID / Application ID value from the OBF config form and click Submit
4. Set tool status as Approved
5. Select User Fields to Send:
   • Role in Course
   • Name
   • Email Address
6. Copy the Deployment ID value from the form — you will need this in Step 3
7. Click Submit

Course tool placement is created by default. You can review placements by selecting Manage Placements from the menu next to the domain in the LTI Tool Providers list.

Step 2: Create REST API Integration

REST API integration is needed so that the tool can access course members and completion records for automatic badge issuing.

1. In Blackboard, go to System Admin → Integrations → REST API Integrations
2. Click Create Integration
3. Copy and paste the Client ID / Application ID value from the Factory config form
4. Pick the user that this integration should act as
5. Click Submit

Step 3: Add Tool Deployment to Factory

In Factory, input the following values in the LTI settings form:

• Blackboard base URL → your Blackboard installation URL
• Deployment ID → Deployment ID created in Step 1
• Optionally add a Node ID if Institutional Hierarchy is in use for this tool deployment

Click Add.

Usage

Add LTI Link to Courses

1. In Blackboard, go to a Course and turn Edit Mode on
2. Go to Course Content and select Tools → More Tools → Open Badge Factory or CanCred Factory
3. Optionally edit the link name and description
4. Click Submit
5. Turn Edit Mode off

Issuing a Badge to Course Participants

        1. From your Course, go to Tools → Open Badge Factory or CanCred Factory → Issue badge

        2. Select the badge you want to issue

        3. Define all your badge details

        4. Select your students

        5. Edit your email message

        6. Issue your badge

Issuing a Badge Automatically on Course Completion or Score

1. In the LTI tool, click Manage settings
2. Click Authorize (button will be hidden if the tool has already been authorized)
3. You can specify generic Instructions for students concerning your badges
4. Click Add course badge and pick the badge to issue

        5. Click Edit on the badge

        6. Choose if the badge is issued to all course members or based on final score

        7. Input the email message that is sent when the badge is issued

⚠️ Please note: Course badges are issued periodically once a day after course completions are checked.

Adding Badge Applications for a Course

1. In the LTI tool, click Manage settings
2. Click Add badge application
3. Select the badge application you want to add to the course

Reviewing Badge Applications

1. In the LTI tool, click Manage settings
2. Click Review applications

Issuing History

From your Course, go to Tools → Open Badge Factory or CanCred Factory → Issuing history.

Student View

Students can view course badges and badge applications from: Course → Tools → Open Badge Factory or CanCred Factory

Badge Issuance Behaviour

Automatic issuance (LTI rule-based) 

Badge issuance via the Blackboard LTI integration is not immediate. Issuance rules are checked once per night (nightly check). This means there may be a delay of up to 24 hours between a course completion and the badge being issued.

Manual issuance 

Manual issuance works the same way as within the OBF interface. An email queue is in use, meaning issuance may not be instant if the volume exceeds the daily quota.

Deduplication rule 

A badge will not be issued if the recipient's email address already holds one. This behaviour is systematic and acts as a built-in protection against duplicates.