If your learning product still launches inside institutions' LMS platforms through LTI 1.1, the clock is now visible. Two of the largest platforms have published retirement dates, and procurement teams in the UK, Australia and Canada increasingly ask for 1EdTech certification evidence before they sign. This guide explains what "LTI 1.3 ready" actually means, how to check it, and what to demand from a vendor or your own engineering team. A companion PDF checklist at the end of this page turns it into a one-page review you can run in a meeting.

TL;DR

  • LTI 1.1 is on a published retirement path in major platforms: D2L has said new LTI 1.1 integrations stop being addable in Brightspace from February 2027 and launches are disabled for all customers by October 2027; Blackboard will turn off all LTI 1.0 and 1.1 tools on 30 September 2027.
  • LTI 1.3 with LTI Advantage is built on OAuth 2 and OpenID Connect, and adds three services: Assignment and Grade Services, Deep Linking and Names and Role Provisioning Services.
  • "We support LTI" is not evidence. Ask for the 1EdTech certification registration number and the list of certified services.
  • Launch is the easy part. Roster, grade return and data ownership are where integrations fail.

Why LTI 1.3 readiness is now a buying criterion

LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is the standard that lets an external tool, such as a virtual classroom, assessment engine or content product, launch from inside a learning management system with the user's identity and course context already attached. For years most tools used LTI 1.1, which signs requests with OAuth 1.0a.

1EdTech, the standards body behind LTI, announced the deprecation of OAuth 1.0a API authentication in a June 2020 security bulletin. It stopped certifying new LTI 1.1 Tool Provider and Tool Consumer products after 31 December 2020 unless they supported OAuth 2.0 or later, and said that from 1 July 2021 OAuth 1.0a would no longer be certified. Its recommendation is to migrate to LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage, which uses OAuth 2 and OpenID Connect (1EdTech deprecation notice).

Platform vendors are now acting on that. D2L announced in September 2026 that it will retire LTI 1.1 in Brightspace: from February 2027 customers can no longer add new LTI 1.1 integrations through the interface, from March 2027 they may opt in to disabling LTI 1.1 launches, and launches are disabled for all customers by October 2027 (D2L). Blackboard's schedule is that new LTI 1.0 and 1.1 registrations stop on 1 January 2027 and all such tools are turned off on 30 September 2027, with no extension programme planned. Blackboard also advises providers expecting new customers in 2027 to target LTI 1.3 by January 2027 (Blackboard).

Dates differ per platform and may change, so check your own LMS vendors' current notices. The direction does not.

What "LTI 1.3 ready" means in practice

LTI 1.3 is the core specification. LTI Advantage is the bundle of services on top. 1EdTech states that LTI Advantage currently includes three services (1EdTech RFP guidance):

  1. Assignment and Grade Services (AGS): the tool creates gradebook columns and returns scores to the LMS.
  2. Deep Linking: an instructor browses the tool's catalogue from inside the LMS and places specific content in a course.
  3. Names and Role Provisioning Services (NRPS): the tool reads the course roster and roles.

A product can be certified for one or more of these. Products certified for LTI 1.3 and all applicable services are identified as LTI Advantage certified, and certified products receive a registration number listed in the 1EdTech Certified Product Directory.

So the first question is not "do you support LTI 1.3" but "which services, and are they certified?" A tool that only does a launch with no grade return forces teachers to copy marks by hand, which is exactly the failure that makes an integration feel broken to a school.

The checklist, in five areas

The PDF has the full tick-box version. Here is the reasoning behind each area.

1. Launch and security

Check that the tool performs the LTI 1.3 launch flow rather than a retrofitted 1.1 launch: an OpenID Connect login initiation, signed identity tokens that the tool validates, and key rotation handled through published keys. Ask how the tool validates the token issuer, audience and expiry, and what happens in browsers that restrict third-party cookies, because embedded launches inside an iframe are where session handling often breaks. Ask how many LMS platforms and versions the vendor has actually tested against.

2. Services

Map each service to a real workflow. Which assignments need grade return? Do instructors need to place content from your catalogue (Deep Linking)? Do you need rosters to enrol users automatically (NRPS)? Skip the services you do not need, but make that a decision, not an accident. Record which are certified and which are merely implemented.

3. Identity, roles and data

LTI passes a user identifier and role claims, but what you do with them is yours to design. Decide how a launch maps to an account in your product, how you handle a user who appears in two courses, and whether you store personal data at all. Under the 1EdTech sample RFP language, student and faculty data generated through LTI tools belongs to the institution, and providers should supply a copy on request in a format the institution specifies. Treat that as a baseline clause, and confirm where data is stored and how it is deleted for each region you sell into.

4. Rostering and SIS connections

LTI handles in-course launches. Institution-wide roster sync usually comes from the student information system. 1EdTech's OneRoster standard exists for this purpose; ask whether the vendor supports it, and which version. We cover the wider integration picture in our LTI and OneRoster integration guide and in student information system integration.

5. Migration and operations

If you already have LTI 1.1 customers, plan the migration, not just the build. Blackboard notes that moving a tool from LTI 1.1 to 1.3 is a one-time, one-way action, so test in a non-production course first. Agree who communicates to customers, how long both versions run in parallel, and how you roll back a failed grade return. Add monitoring for failed launches and failed grade passbacks, with a named owner.

Questions to ask a vendor

  • Which LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage services are implemented, and which are 1EdTech certified? Can you share the registration number?
  • Which LMS platforms and versions have you tested against in production?
  • What happens to existing LTI 1.1 links when a school moves to 1.3?
  • How are grades returned, retried on failure and audited?
  • Where is student data stored, who is the processor, and how is it deleted on request?
  • What is your support process during a school's term start, when launch volume peaks?

Questions to ask your own engineering team

If you are building rather than buying, the same questions apply internally, plus a few more. Who owns each service? Is there a test harness that runs against more than one LMS? Do you have a staging course for each platform you support? A custom LMS or learning platform built to be interoperable from day one avoids retrofitting; see our LMS platform work and the article on why LMS integrations fail.

Regional notes for the UK, Australia and Canada

We have not tried to list every public-sector procurement rule here, because requirements vary by institution and change. What is consistent is that buyers use the LMS platform of their choice, so your tool must work across several, and that data protection obligations differ by country. Check the current rules for the institutions you sell to, and read our overview of data privacy in edtech. Accessibility is outside the scope of LTI Advantage according to 1EdTech, so assess it separately (accessibility guide).

A simple scoring approach

Score each of the five areas from 0 to 2 (not met, partly met, met) and mark any "not met" in launch, security or data as a blocker rather than averaging it away. A tool can look strong on services yet fail on data ownership, and that is a reason to pause, not to average. The PDF includes a scoring table you can fill in.

Where Syslabs fits

Syslabs builds and integrates education platforms, including LMS, virtual classroom, admissions and assessment tooling, and can help with an LTI 1.3 readiness review, a migration plan from LTI 1.1, or a custom integration layer. Scope and pricing depend on the platforms, services and regions involved, so pricing is scoped on a consultation.

If you also run a legacy LMS, our checklist for migrating from a legacy LMS is a good next read.

Book a consultation: https://www.syslabs.in/book/meeting

References

  • 1EdTech. Deprecation notice: OAuth 1.0a. https://www.1edtech.org/standards/lti/deprecation-notice-oauth-10a
  • 1EdTech. Suggested LTI Advantage requirements for RFPs. https://www.1edtech.org/standards/lti/suggested-lti-advantage-requirements-rfps
  • D2L (24 September 2026). Security enhancements with retirement of LTI 1.1 support. https://www.d2l.com/newsroom/d2l-announces-security-enhancements-with-retirement-of-lti-1-1-support/
  • Blackboard (updated 5 October 2026). Retirement of LTI 1.1 support in Blackboard LMS. https://community.blackboard.com/home/blogs/retirement-of-lti-11-support-in-blackboard-lms-2026-08-27