Manhattan College Knowledge Base

External Tools and Textbook Integrations

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The External Tool function in Moodle makes it possible to integrate textbook publisher content and other digital tools into your Moodle course to streamline access.  The External Tool function uses Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), a standard technology for connecting learning management systems to external sources.  

Available Preconfigured Tools

The following tools are available as preconfigured tools. This means that Moodle has been configured to connect to content from these providers using credentials and setup criteria provided by each company.  Although LTI is a standard technology, each content provider integration functions differently. Setup and functionality will differ.  Some common functions are account creation and streamlined logging in to external content and automatic grade transfer.

If you are working with a content provider that uses LTI that is not on this list, contact Instructional Design to request configuration of the integration.

General Learning Tools

These tools can be found by default in the Activity Chooser.

  • Edpuzzle
  • Padlet
  • Perusall

Textbook & Courseware Publishers

These tools can be enabled at the course level and then found in the Activity Chooser.

  • Cambridge myBusinessCourse
  • Google Assignment
  • Lnrn
  • Macmillan
  • McGraw Hill
  • Pearson
  • Wiley
  • W. W. Norton
  • zyBooks

Managing Available Course Tools

To enable a publisher tool at the course level, follow these steps:

Navigate to the the LTI External tools configuration page

  1. Select more in the course navigation menu
  2. Select LTI External tools from the list of options

Enable desired tools

Locate the tool you would like to enable.  Click on the toggle under "Show in activity chooser" to enable that tool in the course.

Access tools in Activity chooser

All enabled tools will display as options in the Activity chooser. Tools are listed in alphabetical order.  

Some publisher documentation may instruct you to select "External Tool" in the Activity Chooser and then select the preconfigured tool from a dropdown menu on the configuration page.  This method is no longer used in Moodle 4.3.  If following publisher documentation, enable the tool, select the tool from the Activity Chooser, and then jump to the next step after selecting the tool from the dropdown list.

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