gc2lti-poc

The is a proof of concept for using LTI Tools as assignments in Google Classroom.

There are three web applications in this solution: catalog, gc2lti, and gc2lti_outcomes. catalog and gc2lti go together. gc2lti_outcomes is standalone.

catalog is a simulated catalog with one resource page for an LTI Tool that you can use as an assignment in Google Classroom. There is a Google Classroom share button on the page which shares a link to gc2lti.

gc2lti has a Gc2LtiController which uses the Google Classroom API and Google Directory API to convert the simple GET request from Google Classroom into a complete and valid LTI request. Then that LTI request is signed and posted to the LTI Tool.

gc2lti_outcomes is a single project that combines the catalog and gc2lti projects, and adds support for sending LTI Outcomes back to Google Classroom. A version of this project is running on Azure.

All 3 web applications use .NET Core 2.0. Unfortunately, Google.Apis.Auth.Mvc is not compatible with .NET Core 2.0 applications, so I used @buzallen's replacement implementation.

Read more about this POC in Using LTI Tools in Google Classroom and Sending LTI Outcomes to Google Classroom.

QuickStart

All 3 projects are compatible with Visual Studio Community 2017 and .NET Core 2.0. The catalog project should run as-is. The gc2lti and gc2lti_outcomes projects have several prerequisites:

• A Google account (for you as the developer of the project).
• A second Google account with Google Classroom enabled for testing. A G Suite for Education account is preferred, but this works with other account types with some degradation.
• Download @buzallen‘s Google.Apis.Auth.Mvc replacement he calls Google.Apis.Auth.AspMvcCore. You will probably need to fix the Google.Apis.Auth.AspMvcCore project reference in the gc2lti-poc solution so that it points where you downloaded the project.
• Enable the Classroom API and the Admin SDK using the Google Developers Console. See Google’s Classroom Quickstart for details.
• Create an OAuth Client ID for a web application, also using the Google Developers Console.
• Add "https://localhost:44319/AuthCallback" as an authorized Redirect URL to the Client ID.
• If you are running the project locally, store the resulting Client ID and Secret for the Gc2LtiController using the Secret Manager:
  1. Right click on the gc2lti project and select Manage User Secrets.
  2. Store your Client ID and Secret in the secrets.json file:

  {
    "Authentication:Google:ClientId": "YOUR CLIENT ID",
    "Authentication:Google:ClientSecret": "YOUR SECRET"
  }
  

• If you are running the project on Azure, store the two secrets as environment variables.
• None of the projects require a database.

Once you have the projects configured and running, follow these steps to assign, launch, and--in the case of gc2lti-outcomes--record a grade.

catalog/gc2lti

1. Visit the catalog home page
2. Navigate to Catalog > Resource
3. Click on Share with Classroom
4. Login to Google with an account that has the Classroom app and has at least one class (i.e. login as a teacher)
5. Follow the prompts to assign the resource to a class
6. Logout of the teacher account and login with a student account that is enrolled in the class above
7. Open the class above
8. Click on the link to launch the LTI tool

gc2lti-outcomes

1. Visit the gc2lti-outcomes home page
2. Click on Share with Classroom
3. Login to Google with an account that has the Classroom app and has at least one class (i.e. login as a teacher)
4. Follow the prompts to assign the resource to a class
5. Logout of the teacher account and login with a student account that is enrolled in the class above
6. Open the class above
7. Click on the link to launch the LTI Tool
8. Force an outcome to be sent from the LTI Tool
9. Switch back to the class UI and "Open" the assignment to see the grade
10. Logout of the student account and login with the teacher account
11. Open the class above
12. Click on the title of the assignment to see the grades