Open standards are becoming more common in software development. It is important to be compliant  with these standards in order to provide interoperability between various systems. This is a critical component when working with educational technologies. 

EBSCO is embracing open standards in education technology like Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) in order to provide integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS). Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium in order to deliver a single framework for integrating any LMS product with any learning application. It supports the ability for different education technologies and tools to exchange information in order to share or transfer data securely. The ultimate benefactor is the end user who can seamlessly access and use these tools directly from within the Learning Management System. EBSCO’s LTI Integration delivers seamless access to EBSCO content directly from within the LMS. This streamlines the workflow for faculty searching for and linking to library resources and making those links to that content available to students within the LMS. 

Supporting open standards like LTI allows EBSCO to integrate with any Learning Management System that supports this standard. EBSCO currently integrates with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle and Desire2Learn. We will continue to support additional LMS’s in the future and are actively following the enhancements to the LTI standard in order to take advantage of new functionality as it is made available. 

We also see the benefit of participating in initiatives that support open interoperability with EdTech systems. We are participating in one such initiative called the Social Learning Across Content coalition – a group of organizations working collectively to improve discovery, access, and engagement with content within Learning Management Systems, for students and faculty. The key here is bringing together content and learning platforms in order to demonstrate the importance of open interoperability within these learning systems. EBSCO is participating in this coalition because we have embraced open standards like Learning Tools Interoperability. We wholeheartedly believe that streamlining the workflow for faculty and students will lead to improved outcomes all around.  

In addition, EBSCO is a proud supporter of the Standards First Pledge sponsored by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. As part of a committed community that makes open standards the first and primary choice for education technology integrations, we advocate for open standards-based integrations. We believe that achieving and promoting official product certification to open standards enables a better EdTech ecosystem. We are passionate about this cause and have taken the Standards First pledge to confirm our support. 

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