BrightSpace Administrator – Instructions for Installing SoftChalk Link Selector App

Owned by Carol SoftChalk
Oct 20, 2021
4 min read

The steps below are for a Brightspace administrator to install and enable SoftChalk’s Link Selector remote plugin for D2L. This guide will walk you through setting up both the non-scored Insert Stuff remote plugin and the LTI Quicklink (CIM) remote plugin.

SoftChalk Link Selector is an LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) app which makes use of the IMS Content Item Select protocol in conjunction with Brightspace’s Remote Plugin functions. When enabled, it allows faculty and admins to quickly access their content on the SoftChalk Cloud, browse for saved content, and integrate that content into D2L’s BrightSpace LMS as both scored and on-scored lesson links.

The Link Selector app will establish a secure connection (using a key and secret) between an instructor’s BrightSpace account and their SoftChalk Cloud account. When Link Selector is accessed from BrightSpace, it will automatically connect the instructor to their SoftChalk Cloud account and allow them to browse and select their SoftChalk content without needing to leave the BrightSpace platform.

By using the Link Selector tool, the instructor can link content into their BrightSpace course in two ways – as scored content (content that reports student score results into the BrightSpace gradebook) or an unscored content.  To add scored content, the instructor will use the BrightSpace QuickLink (CIM). SoftChalk content that is not intended to report a score can be added to a course using either BrightSpace QuickLink (CIM) or the BrightSpace Insert Stuff (CIM) feature.

The BrightSpace administrator must setup and install the SoftChalk Link Selector app in order for instructors to access and use the app.  The app is not designed for installation and setup by individual BrightSpace instructors.

Step-by-Step instructions for installing and configuring the SoftChalk Link Selector app are provided below.

Step 1:  Register your BrightSpace LMS with SoftChalk

In order to install and configure the SoftChalk Link Selector app in Brightspace, the BrightSpace administrator must register their LMS with the SoftChalk Cloud platform.  

Please contact help@softchalk.com and provide the following information to register your BrightSpace LMS with SoftChalk and receive authentication credentials (i.e. an OAuth Consumer Key and an OAuth Consumer Secret).

Note:  If you have a test server and a production server, you may send us two LMS URLs and we will register both of them. (You will receive a separate email with a unique key and secret for each registered URL.)

  • Your institution name

  • LMS URL

  • First Name (optional) of the person registering with us

  • Last Name (optional) of the person registering with us

  • Email for this registration (the email can be a specific person’s email or a generic email such as lmsadmin@myinstitution.edu)

After registering, you will receive an email from SoftChalk with information to enter into your Brightspace by D2L system to configure the SoftChalk Link Selector app (see the steps below).

  1. Log into your Brightspace by D2L system as the Administrator for your system.

  2. Click on the Admin Gears and then select Remote Plugins.

  3. Click on the New Remote Plugin button. Use the Plugin Type dropdown to select Quicklink (CIM).

  4. The Name should be entered as “SoftChalk Link Selector” but can be adjusted.

  5. The Launch Point URL should be entered as “https://softchalkcloud.com/lti/content”.

  6. The LTI Key and LTI Secret are provided by email from SoftChalk as described above.  Enter the provided key and secret information.

  7. Add the Org Units that will have access to the SoftChalk Link Selector by clicking Add Org Units.

  8. Click Save.

Insert Stuff (CIM)

  1. Then, generate a 2nd remote plugin for Insert Stuff (CIM).

  2. When selecting the Plugin Type for this 2nd remote plugin, choose Insert Stuff (CIM)

  3. The Name should be entered as “SoftChalk Link Selector” but can be adjusted.

  4. The Launch Point URL should be entered as “https://softchalkcloud.com/lti/content”.

  5. Once again add the appropriate Org Units that the plugin will need to be available in using Add Org Units.

  6. Finally, click Save.

Step 3: Delete Multiple External Tool Providers and Adjust the SoftChalk Cloud Global Tool Provider settings

  1. Once you’ve created the two Remote Plugins successfully, you’ll want to adjust the Global Tool Providers which Brightspace will generate automatically to ensure that the ‘Security Settings’ are correct.

  2. Click on the Admin Gears and then select External Tool Providers.

  3. Then, click Global Tool Providers from the listed tabs.

  4. Locate the SoftChalk Cloud tool provider; there should be two of them present.

  5. Delete one of the duplicate SoftChalk Cloud tool providers; only one of them is necessary when using the Link Selector integration.

  6. Click to edit the remaining SoftChalk Cloud tool provider.

  7. Ensure the tool provider Launch Point URL is http://softchalkcloud.com  

  8. Under ‘Security Settings’ make sure that options for ‘User Role’ and ‘User Name’ are checked.

  9. Click Save to save changes to the Global Tool Provider for SoftChalk Cloud.

This completes the setup and install of the SoftChalk Link Selector app.