NameDrop on Sakai

Verified

Verified end-to-end against Sakai 21+ (community sandbox tested on Sakai 22).

What you’ll get

NameDrop appears as a tab in the left navigation of any Sakai site (course or project) where you enable it. Members see the welcome card + course roster with pronunciation buttons.

For per-user placement (a “Record my name” tab in every user’s Home / My Workspace), see the Per-user placement section below — this is more involved than Canvas.

Setup (one-time, by Sakai admin)

Step 1: Register NameDrop as an LTI 1.3 tool

1. Sign in to Sakai as administrator.
2. Open Administration Workspace → External Tools.
3. Click Install LTI 1.x Tool at top-right.
4. Fill in:
   • Title: NameDrop
   • Tool URL: https://lti.namedrop.io/lti/launch
   • Tool supports LTI 1.3: ✓
   • OIDC Login URL: https://lti.namedrop.io/lti/login
   • Tool Keyset URL: https://lti.namedrop.io/jwks/{your-tenant-id} (get the tenant ID from your NameDrop dashboard at https://app.namedrop.io/integrations)
5. Save. Sakai issues a Client ID for this tool.

Step 2: Connect to your NameDrop tenant

1. In your NameDrop dashboard, click Connect Sakai and paste the Client ID Sakai gave you.
2. NameDrop uses this to verify launches.

Step 3: Add NameDrop to a Sakai site

In any course or project site:

1. Site Info → Manage Tools.
2. Scroll to External Tools, check NameDrop, click Continue.
3. Save.

NameDrop now appears in that site’s left navigation.

Per-user placement (advanced)

Sakai doesn’t have a one-click “every user’s Home” toggle. Three real options for every-user reach:

1. !user site template (future users only) — Edit the !user site template to include NameDrop. Affects accounts created from this point forward. Existing user Homes are unaffected.
2. Bulk SQL / Quartz job (existing users) — Most institutional Sakai admins have a runbook for inserting tool placements into every existing ~userid worksite. Talk to your Sakai operations team.
3. Shared “NameDrop” project site — Create a project site called “NameDrop” with NameDrop as the only tool, then add every user as a member. Site appears as a top tab for everyone.

Recommended rollout: #1 + #2 combined. Run the bulk job once at rollout for existing users; update !user so future accounts get it automatically.

FAQ

Q: Does NameDrop see the Sakai roster? A: Yes, via NRPS (Names and Role Provisioning Services). NameDrop fetches the course roster at launch time. You may need to enable “Provide Roster to External Tool” in the tool registration.

Q: Why do I see a generic “External Tools” admin tool when I add it to !user? A: That’s the wrong tool. The Sites admin tool registry shows generic placements (like “External Tools”), not specific LTI 1.3 tool registrations. To put a specific NameDrop placement into !user, you need to add a Page with an External Tool placement, then bind it to the NameDrop registration. See the bulk SQL approach for the cleanest path.

Q: Can I have two NameDrop placements with different views? A: Yes. Register the tool a second time with a different Title (e.g., “Record my name”) and add view=record-my-name in Custom Parameters. Use one for the course tab, one for personal placements.

Q: How do I uninstall? A: External Tools → NameDrop → Delete. Then disconnect in your NameDrop dashboard.