Does Microsoft Teams Support the LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage Specifications?

by Jordan Clark

Microsoft Teams is a relatively new and popular LMS provider. Because of how often an edtech developer (or their team) might encounter the need to integrate with this LMS, it makes sense to understand what type of integrations the LMS can support. In the scope of LMS providers, a developer has a couple of options to choose how to integrate – use the LMS provider’s API or use the LTI specification.

What is LTI?

LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is a specification from 1EdTech (formerly, IMS Global Learning Consortium) that companies have adopted to provide a specific way to integrate content into a learning management system. Some LMS providers have different ways of implementing LTI and some don't support the most recent release of the specification.

Does Microsoft Teams Support LTI?

Microsoft Teams for Education DOES NOT support any version of the LTI specification, including LTI v1.3 and LTI Advantage. This has commonly frustrated digital vendors who have spent time developing LTI solutions for their clients, only to find out that the learning institution that uses Microsoft Teams can't use the edtech tool.

Are There Other Ways to Integrate with Microsoft Teams?

Fortunately, Microsoft Teams for Education allows for integration with the Microsoft Graph API. Through the Microsoft Graph platform, third-party edtech products can act on behalf of an authenticated user in Teams. The Microsoft Graph API can provide single sign-on (SSO) through Microsoft Teams, create new resources in Teams, assign grades to students, and determine which users are part of which classes.

*Updated: 11.28.23

Read More on Microsoft Teams

Here are other articles we’ve written on Microsoft Teams to help you on your integration journey:

If you're looking for a partner who can help guide you through developing LMS integrations (like these), then let’s introduce ourselves. We’re Edlink!