LMS Integration (LTI) Overview
PrepareBuddy connects to your Learning Management System (LMS) with LTI — the standard that Canvas, Moodle and D2L Brightspace use for external tools. Once connected, teachers add PrepareBuddy work to their courses as ordinary graded assignments, students open it straight from the LMS, and the score lands in the LMS gradebook automatically.
What it does
| Single sign-on | Students and teachers open PrepareBuddy from the LMS with no extra password. A PrepareBuddy account is created on first use, or linked to the student's existing one. |
| One link, one piece of work | Each LMS assignment opens one specific language test (IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, OET, CELPIP, Duolingo English Test, SAT, GMAT, GRE, or your own), quiz from your organization's exam library, or assessment (essay, report, project…). |
| Automatic gradebook sync | The score is sent to that assignment's gradebook column as soon as it is final. |
| Teacher view in the LMS | Opening the assignment as a teacher shows every student's status, score and whether the grade reached the gradebook, with a Resend button. |
| Reliable delivery | If the LMS is briefly unreachable, the score is retried automatically. |
How it works
- Your PrepareBuddy administrator and your LMS administrator connect the two systems once (about 15 minutes). See the Administrator Setup Guide.
- A teacher adds a test, quiz or assessment to a course — with LTI 1.3 they pick it from a PrepareBuddy list inside the LMS; with LTI 1.1 they paste its link. See the Teacher Guide.
- A student clicks the assignment. PrepareBuddy opens in its own browser tab, already signed in, on that piece of work. See the Student Guide.
- The score goes to the gradebook when it is final. See Scores and the Gradebook.
Supported LMSs and LTI versions
| LMS | Recommended | Also works |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas (cloud or self-hosted) | LTI 1.3 | LTI 1.1 |
| Moodle 3.10 and later | LTI 1.3 | LTI 1.1 |
| D2L Brightspace | LTI 1.3 | LTI 1.1 |
| Any other LMS with LTI 1.3 or LTI 1.1 | LTI 1.3 | LTI 1.1 |
Use LTI 1.3 whenever your LMS supports it. It is the current standard, it lets teachers pick from a list, and it creates the gradebook column for them. LTI 1.1 is supported for systems that have not moved to 1.3 yet.
What is synced
| Work | Sent when | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Language test | the student finishes (or the teacher releases a result held for review) | on the test's own scale, e.g. IELTS 7.5 out of 9 |
| Quiz | the student submits | percentage, out of 100 |
| Assessment | the teacher releases the feedback to the student | rubric points out of the rubric total |
Only work opened from an LMS link is sent, and only to that link's gradebook column.
Before you start
- A PrepareBuddy organization administrator account (to open LMS integration at
/lti/manage/). - Administrator access to your LMS (to register an external tool).
- Your LMS must share each user's name and email with the tool — PrepareBuddy uses the email to recognise existing accounts.
- A test or sandbox course to try one assignment end to end before rolling out.
Need help?
Email support@preparebuddy.com with your LMS name and version and, if something failed, the exact message on screen.