Blackboard LTI Integration

Updated

About the integration

DataCamp supports integration with Blackboard via LTI 1.3 (Learning Tools Interoperability). This integration allows your institution to:

  • Use Deep Linking to embed DataCamp content directly in Blackboard.
  • Sync completions through the Assignments and Grade Services (AGS) standard.

With this setup, learners can launch DataCamp content from Blackboard, and their completions can be reflected as grades in Blackboard.

Deep Linking

With Deep Linking, Blackboard admins or instructors can browse DataCamp content from within Blackboard and add them into their courses. 

To use Deep Linking, the user must be an admin, manager, or team manager in the DataCamp group.

The supported content types are:

  • Courses
  • Projects
  • Assessments
  • Practices
  • Tracks
  • Custom tracks
  • Certifications

Instructors can insert DataCamp content directly into a Blackboard course depending on the course view:

  • Ultra Course View: Navigate to Course Content, click the + icon (or select Books & Tools), open the Content Market, and click DataCamp Deep Linking.

  • Original Course View: Navigate to any Content Area, hover over Build Content, and select DataCamp Deep Linking.

Once the DataCamp picker opens, browse or search for your desired content, select it, and confirm. The link and its corresponding Grade Center column will be automatically added to your course.

Assignment and Grading

The integration uses Assignments and Grade Services (AGS) to sync completions:

  • When a learner completes a DataCamp course, the completion is immediately sent back to Blackboard.
  • The corresponding activity in the Blackboard course is marked as complete for the user. The score is hardcoded to 100 out of 100.

This ensures that Blackboard instructors can easily track learner progress on DataCamp content.

A learner must first launch the content item from Blackboard for the grade to be recorded. The content can still be completed on DataCamp at a later time, and we will send the completion, but the course must always be launched from Blackboard first.

User provisioning

DataCamp uses Just-in-time (JIT) provisioning for learners launching from Blackboard. When a learner clicks a DataCamp course in Blackboard, if they don’t already have a DataCamp account, one is created instantly and they will be added, with the highest available license, to the organization in DataCamp.

With JIT provisioning, learners can move from Blackboard into DataCamp seamlessly, without any extra steps.

Pre-requisites

In order to set up an integration with LTI, the following requirements must be met:

  • You must have access to an active Blackboard LMS instance
  • You must have an active enterprise subscription on DataCamp
  • You must have admin privileges on the Blackboard LMS instance

Setup

Step 1: Setup the DataCamp LTI Tool in Blackboard

In Blackboard, go to System Admin > Integrations > LTI Tool Providers and click "Register LTI 1.3 Tool".

Enter the following Client ID: 651121a7-ec0f-4bd2-b5b3-0dd8f6a779dc

Step 2: Verify the following information

Please compare the values shown to you with the following, they should be roughly the same.

Step 3: Copy the Deployment ID and send it to DataCamp

Copy the value of the Deployment ID field and share these details safely with your DataCamp point of contact.

Step 4: Test the integration

Once enabled by DataCamp, test the setup by embedding a DataCamp course into Blackboard using Deep Linking (explained above).

When launching the embedded course, you should be redirected seamlessly to DataCamp, already logged in, and taken directly to the selected piece of content.

FAQ

Why can’t DataCamp content be embedded in an iframe inside Blackboard?

DataCamp courses are interactive and cannot be packaged or served from another platform. Our courses combine video with live coding exercises that only run on the DataCamp platform. 

Note: Deep Linking can (and will) be performed in an iframe.

Can learners access DataCamp directly if they were provisioned through Blackboard?

Yes, but only after setting a password via the "Forgot my password" feature. This is because accounts created via Blackboard through JIT provisioning do not initially have a password.

What if a learner has already completed a DataCamp course that I have added to my Blackboard course?

The learner needs to only launch the course once from Blackboard and we will immediately send the completion to Blackboard, which will mark the course as completed. They will not have to re-complete the course on DataCamp. 

Can I set up LTI with Dynamic Registration?

Dynamic registration is not supported at the moment.