For Blackboard Faculty: Upgrading OHM from LTI 1.1 to 1.3 in Blackboard

Lumen OHM is transitioning customers from LTI 1.1 to LTI 1.3. This upgrade brings improved security, better compatibility with Blackboard, and a more reliable integration experience for both instructors and students.

Your Blackboard administrator has recently completed this upgrade with us, and this guide has instructions for the one-time login process required by faculty to complete the transition for their individual courses.

The steps are the same for both Blackboard Learn (Original) and Blackboard Ultra — only the path to an OHM assessment differs slightly. Both paths are noted in the steps below.

1. Open your existing OHM course in Blackboard.
2. Open any OHM assessment using the path for your course view — in Blackboard Learn (Original), click the OHM course link in the left-hand course menu (named after your OHM course, for example OHM College Algebra) to open the OHM landing page; in Blackboard Ultra, open the OHM folder on the Course Content page (also named after your OHM course). The link or folder is created automatically when your OHM cartridge is imported.
3. Click any OHM assessment (homework, quiz, exam, or tutorial assignment) and complete the OHM login prompt that appears.
4. This is a one-time, expected step. After signing in, your course content loads normally — no course copy or re-linking required.
5. Once you've signed in, your course is running on LTI 1.3 and students can access it without issue. Let your students know they're good to go.

What Students Will Experience

Students don't need to do anything. From their perspective, the upgrade happens behind the scenes — they continue using OHM exactly as they always have.

• Students open the course from Blackboard exactly as they always have.
• All grades and scores from work completed before the upgrade are preserved exactly as they are today.
• All future assignments and assessments continue to record grades back to the same Blackboard course and OHM course the student is already enrolled in.
• There's no need for students to re-enroll, restart, or redo any of their coursework.

If a student happens to open an OHM assessment before the instructor has completed their first sign-in, they'll see a brief "Course link not established" message asking them to let their instructor know. Once the instructor opens the course and signs in, the message clears automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my students lose any of their grades or progress?

No — all existing grade passback data is preserved. Students keep every previously recorded score, and new work continues flowing to the same Blackboard gradebook.

Do I need to create a new course or copy my existing one?

No. The upgrade maps your existing course to the new LTI 1.3 connection automatically. No copying, reassociating, or rebuilding is required.

Why are instructors being asked to log in to OHM again?

It's a one-time authentication prompt that's part of the upgrade — completely expected, and it won't happen again after the first sign-in.

Does the LTI 1.1 tool need to be removed before adding 1.3?

No removal is needed. When the LTI 1.3 tool is registered with the same domain (ohm.lumenlearning.com), Blackboard automatically carries the existing LTI 1.1 configuration forward and replaces the old entry with the new one. All content items and grade columns stay exactly where they are.

Who should I contact if I run into issues?

We're here to help. Reach out to Lumen Learning Support any time during the transition — visit support.lumenlearning.com and submit a request, and our team will follow up with you directly.

This guide is intended for Blackboard administrators transitioning OHM from LTI 1.1 to LTI 1.3. If you'd like further documentation or support resources, please reach out to your Lumen Learning representative — we're here to make this transition as smooth as possible.