Blackboard is announcing the retirement of support for LTI 1.0 and LTI 1.1 in Blackboard LMS. These are the oldest versions of the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard defined by 1EdTech, the standards organization responsible for LTI. Blackboard takes security seriously, and we’re always looking for ways to improve the security stance of our products. These older LTI versions are built on older, weaker security approaches with known and documented vulnerabilities. Additionally, 1EdTech deprecated these legacy versions in 2019 and no longer certifies tools on these versions.

LTI 1.3 (LTI Advantage), the current standard, uses OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect — a substantially more secure foundation. Transitioning to LTI 1.3 protects institutional data, maintains certification eligibility for tool providers, and unlocks additional integration capabilities that create better user experiences for educators and learners.

Blackboard is committed to making this transition as smooth as possible. The timelines below give institutions and tool providers the time needed to plan, test, and complete upgrades.

Blackboard supports an in-place upgrade method that allows tool providers to update an existing LTI 1.1 tool to LTI 1.3 without breaking existing course links. Links in all courses—current and past—are updated automatically. This is the recommended approach when technically feasible. Alternately, tool providers and require instructors and course designers to update links manually.

Note to developers: It won’t be possible for an administrator to register a tool with LTI 1.1 starting in December. If you expect to have new customers or adopters in 2027, you should target your upgrade to LTI 1.3 support by January 2027 rather than September 2027.

When an LTI 1.3 tool is registered at the same fully qualified domain name (FQDN) as an existing LTI 1.1 registration, Blackboard LMS detects the overlap and prompts the administrator to migrate all existing links to the new registration. Upon confirmation, all LTI 1.1 links update automatically — no action is required from instructors.

To support this path, the LTI 1.3 implementation must correctly handle the target_link_uri so that launch URLs from the original LTI 1.1 placements continue to resolve. Detailed technical guidance and sample code are available in the migration documentation:

Blackboard partners (Developer Network or higher) can create a support request with Blackboard Product Support. For community developer support, contact the Blackboard developer relations team at [email protected] .

If your tool architecture does not permit an upgrade in place, you will need to provide administrators with a new LTI 1.3 registration and communicate to your customers that existing links will require recreation. Clearly document the steps for administrators and publish updated setup guides to minimize disruption.

Administrators should assess their institution's LTI tool landscape and initiate conversations with tool providers as soon as possible.

To identify which tools in your environment are using LTI 1.0 or 1.1, navigate to the Administrator Panel in Blackboard LMS and select LTI Tool Providers under the Integrations section. The list displays the LTI version for each registered tool. Contact providers whose tools appear as LTI 1.1 or earlier.

Contact each affected tool provider to understand their upgrade timeline. Ask specifically whether they support the in-place upgrade path which updates existing course links automatically, or whether they require new tool registrations — in which case instructors will need to recreate links in their courses.

Connect with other institutions and get the latest status updates from the Blackboard team on the Blackboard Community site. https://community.blackboard.com/home

Blackboard LMS supports an in-place upgrade of links if the tool provider supports the documented link update path using the same registered domain. Updating an LTI 1.1 tool to LTI 1.3 is a one-time, one-way action. It isn’t possible to revert. If a tool doesn’t support the link upgrade method and uses the same domain for both versions of the tool (1.1 and 1.3), this can break all links for that tool in all Blackboard courses.

Important: Be certain to test tool upgrades thoroughly in non-production environments. The upgrade process is destructive if not implemented correctly.

Some tool providers may not support the in-place upgrade path and will require administrators to register a new LTI 1.3 tool and instructors to recreate links in their courses.

If you believe a tool is no longer in use, we recommend turning off its availability. This is done by setting the tool to be "excluded" in the LTI Tool Providers page of the administrator panel.

Note: We recommend excluding a tool rather than deleting it. Deletion will purge all link data in courses for that tool. This data can't be recovered. It's safer to first turn a tool off by excluding it, leaving the tool in that state for a period of time to verify there's no user impact. After the verification period, the data can be purged by deleting the tool.

If link recreation will be required for any tools in use at your institution, notify affected instructors well in advance. Provide clear guidance on which tools are changing, what action is needed, and by when.