A Tin Can LRS and LearnDash Reporting for WordPress!

Uncanny Owl is very pleased to introduce the easiest way to incorporate Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate and H5P modules into LearnDash courses! We don’t just embed modules; we created the very first Tin Can (xAPI) Learning Record Store that’s completely native to WordPress. There are no other applications to install. No endpoints to configure, no complex upload tools, no segregated reporting or any of the other complications that have been historically required to track Storyline, Captivate and H5p modules in WordPress. Easy Tin Can/xAPI and LearnDash reporting is now available with the Tin Canny LearnDash Reporting plugin.

The Tin Canny LearnDash Reporting plugin is more than just a Learning Record Store. Capturing Tin Can statements is of no value unless there’s a great way to present the data—so we built a very powerful reporting tool that combines Tin Can data with all the rest of your LearnDash course data. In fact, even without the Tin Can piece, this is the most comprehensive reporting platform available for LearnDash sites. And that’s still not all—we wanted LearnDash and Tin Can integration to be as seamless as possible, so we modified LearnDash Mark Complete button behaviours so that they only appear after a user has completed all Tin Can modules on the page. (It’s all automatic; if are Tin Can modules on a page, we monitor Tin Can verbs to unlock the Mark Complete button at the right time.)tin_can_report

Everything that’s needed for effective Tin Can use is included in the plugin, from a Storyline and Captivate upload tool (that detects Tin Can vs. non-Tin Can automatically and parses XML files for slide names) and a Learning Record Store to dashboard, course, user and Tin Can reports. Simply install the plugin and everything is ready to go. In fact, the only setting is to toggle whether or not to use Tin Can (as this plugin is also a fantastic LearnDash reporting tool without Tin Can).

course_list

The reporting capabilities really can’t be understated. Here are just a few new metrics that are available for LearnDash courses in the drill-down reporting tool:

LearnDash course completion trendsAverage quiz scores
Topic completion recordsAverage course completion times*
Time spent in courses*Enrolment records

* Requires the Simple Course Timer module from the Uncanny LearnDash Toolkit Pro modules.

And on the Tin Can side, all of the following are available as report filters:

LearnDash GroupUser
CourseTin Can Module
Verb/ActivityDate Range

Head over to our Knowledge Base articles to read more about how the upload tool, LRS and reporting tools work.

tin_can_by_user

At the time of writing, this is the first release of a very large plugin. We wanted to get the plugin out to users as soon as possible, so there a few features that we’ll be adding in the near future to round out the plugin. They include the following:

  • Group Leader reports (right now they’re for administrators only)
  • Additional export functions
  • A report builder that lets you choose your own columns and filters
  • Controls for disabling the Mark Complete integration (it’s currently forced if Tin Can is on a page)

These are all coming in the near future! We will also be making performance improvements to query millions of records in under 5 seconds. Development testing included data for 10,000 learners, but we know we can make report generation even faster.

Please also note that the Learning Record Store is ONLY for on-site use (there is no endpoint for external Tin Can data) and has been built specifically to support Storyline, Captivate and H5P modules only. 

Get the Tin Canny Reporting for Learndash plugin now!

57 replies
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      1. Yes, this replaces much of what GrassBlade LRS would be used for. GrassBlade does offer some different features, so it’s worth comparing them to see which best suits your needs.
      2. We have no plans to support iSpring at this time. Demand simply hasn’t been high enough and this is a very niche plugin, plus we don’t use iSpring ourselves.

      Reply
      • Hannes Trummer
        Hannes Trummer says:

        Hi There…:)

        I am wondering if there is possibility to track/collect words a user has entered.

        Best Hannes

        Reply
        • Ryan
          Ryan says:

          If they’re a part of a quiz and the module is published to xAPI, the yes, this data is available in our xAPI Quiz Report. If those conditions aren’t applicable then no, I’m afraid the data isn’t available.

          Reply
  1. Favio
    Favio says:

    Ryan,

    Congratulations! It’s is a great enhancement to LearnDash sites and that’s why I choose to start a new LMS on wpengine. I’m configuring it with your recommendations, so thank you for share your knowledge. Greetings from Argentina.

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      It has not been tested with Lectora courses. It’s rarely requested so adding support isn’t currently on our roadmap. iSpring is next, and if additional applications become supported we’ll add the references to the product page.

      Reply
    • Irena
      Irena says:

      And one else question.
      What’s about capturing of variables’ data from Storyline course for encounting a total score of the course? Does it works with default and user’s variables?

      Reply
      • Ryan
        Ryan says:

        This is more a function of your Storyline export settings, but I would say this would be difficult and we haven’t seen it done. You would have to populate these values into a Results slide, and even then, it’s not a scenario we’ve tested. For safety I would assume that it wouldn’t work.

        Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Hi Irena,

      We do not current support translation of the Tin Canny plugin. In most cases text is translatable (via translation plugins, not .pot files) but there may be issues and we’re not able to provide official support for translation at this time.

      Reply
  2. Tiago
    Tiago says:

    Hi, I have almost decided to buy this license. But before I just want to make sure one thing: I can create H5p quizzes, insert them in my LD courses and they will me marked as completed? I mean, right now they are inserted but the dont mark the score fo those questions. So, please tell me if this is what I need to achive this goal? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      The answer is “maybe”, unfortunately. A completion verb can be passed to Tin Canny if the H5P module supports it (not all send a completion verb). The data isn’t captured in LearnDash though, and depending on the module type scores may or may not be recorded (there’s a lot of variation in how different H5P elements send data). Some of the H5P modules outline what xAPI/Tin Can data they pass and that’s a good place to check for more information.

      Reply
  3. Anil
    Anil says:

    Hello,

    I have question regarding email functionality,

    Is there that feature availlable to email from admin to Director or manager with overview progress of people in their team ??

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Tin Canny does not add any email capabilities at all. If something like this were needed custom development would be required.

      Reply
  4. Alexander Edelmann
    Alexander Edelmann says:

    Hi,

    Is there any tutorial where I can learn how to install and to use this Plug-in specially with SCORM files.

    Thank you in advance!

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Hi Albert, single site licenses can be used on 1 website/domain only. Agency licenses can be used on up to 5 domains.

      Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Tin Canny includes everything you need to upload, capture data for, and report on xAPI modules authored using one of our supported elearning authoring tools. To confirm, Tin Can is an API, so really just a method of communication, it’s not something you can download. If you want to use a commercial elearning authoring tool like iSpring, Captivate, Storyline or Rise, you must purchase those separately.

      Reply
  5. Adam Singfield
    Adam Singfield says:

    Hi – do you have any HRIS integrations or use case examples? We would like users to complete course in WP but need to export employee course data to the HR system. I’m assuming this could be a custom build using xAPI. Any advice or examples? Thanks, Adam

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      I’m afraid this cannot be done without development. Results captured by Tin Canny are only stored on the site, and a second endpoint to another system isn’t possible. There are potential workarounds, but all would unfortunately require development.

      Reply
  6. Rafael
    Rafael says:

    Hi.
    Can this plugin allow users to see their own results? Basically like Learndash do with its quizzes but with adobe captivate or h5p.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      It is not possible, unfortunately. LearnDash is an absolute requirement. We may revisit that in future, but for now, unfortunately, it’s not planned for any releases in the next few months.

      Reply
  7. Tom DiCamillo
    Tom DiCamillo says:

    Just wanted to confirm the Tin Canny Reporting plugin does not need any sort of subscription to Scorm Cloud or any other Rustici service and all data captured will stay on our local server.

    Reply
  8. Chris
    Chris says:

    Hi, can you advise, does Tincanny plugin allow you to uploaded SCORM content into Learndash for playback etc or would you still need SCORMCloud or similar?

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Tin Canny allows you to upload, embed and track supported SCORM modules inside LearnDash courses. No other tools are needed. I do want to confirm that Tin Canny just embeds modules as exported, it doesn’t split slides into lessons or anything of that nature (I only mention it because it has common up from similar questions).

      Reply
      • Chris Bedford-Gay
        Chris Bedford-Gay says:

        Thanks Ryan, just to super confirm.

        I can publish to a SCORM or xAPI (zipped file) and upload it, embed it into a course/lesson/topic and it will play in browser. No external tools of services needed.

        Understood that breaking out a course into separate SCORM or xAPI published content to construct a course (lessons etc).

        Reply
        • Ryan
          Ryan says:

          Yes, correct. Well, I would be very careful about adding modules to course pages (as a best practice) since they’re not protected the way lessons and topics are, but yes, what you said is correct.

          Reply
  9. Steve W Henwood
    Steve W Henwood says:

    Can you provide a list of all video tutorials related to this plug in and also any printed documentation? In Captivate 2019, how should I configure my tin can settings and other preferences to best integrate with the plug in, and how do I upload the published output to the plugin?

    Reply
  10. Starla
    Starla says:

    I watched the 2016 video with an in-depth look into the reporting provided by this plug-in. The only thing I didn’t see was reporting of and access to a learner’s actual answers – actual essay responses, answers from drag-and-drop interactions, etc. Does this plug-in provide reporting at the level?

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Your observation is correct. For performance reasons, and because WordPress is not optimized to store and report on this kind of data, Tin Canny does not capture or report on question-level data or store user input inside of uploaded modules. What you see in the Tin Can report, so information about slide and module identifiers, verbs, scores and LearnDash identifiers are all that is available. If you need additional data, you will unfortunately need to use an external LRS.

      Reply
  11. Anton
    Anton says:

    Hi! Please tell me, why when i insert shortcode [h5p id=”1″] in my material or test in LearnDash i don’t see it, but if i deactivate your plugin i see h5p plugin? Where is my mistake? I want to see plugin and that answers of my clients write into the database. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Sorry Anton, I don’t really understand what’s happening. We can’t provide plugin support via the Knowledge Base either. Can you log a ticket under the email address used for the purchase, include some screenshots (so I understand what’s showing vs. not showing), and then we can provide assistance? Thanks

      Reply
  12. Codey
    Codey says:

    Hi. I have been thinking of adding this plugin to the LearnDash website that I am working on. I already have Uncanny Toolkit and Uncanny Groups installed. Before purchasing Tin Canny Reporting, I just have a question about Front end reporting for Group Leaders. The video does not show how this page looks like. Can you tell me what the report will include for group leaders on the front end? Can they still export to CSV? How many more features does it add to already installed Uncanny Groups reporting on my website? Thank you
    Codey

    Reply
    • Ryan
      Ryan says:

      Hi Codey, I’m afraid the video here was produced WAY before we added front end reporting features. It was only in the last update that we added access to the xAPI Quiz and Tin Can reports in the front end. For the tincanny shortcode options, see https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/front-end-reports/. The other 2 tabs (not shown) are very much like the ones in the back end (and the video wouldn’t show the xAPI quiz report either, since that’s also a recent addition). For front end quiz reporting options with Tin Canny, see https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/front-end-quiz-reports/.

      Export options are available, but I don’t know that your Group Leaders will gain a lot vs. our Groups plugin unless you have SCORM/xAPI data or you need drill-down reporting. If that’s the only reason for the purchase I would probably recommend sticking with Groups.

      Reply
      • Codey
        Codey says:

        Hey Ryan. Thank you for responding quickly. Just in case, if I do want to add more information to the reports that are exported to CSV, does Uncanny Groups plugin allow this feature or is it restricted by LearnDash on what I can report on? If you think this can be done by some code, I am a developer myself so I think I may be able to do something. Thank you. Codey

        Reply
        • Ryan
          Ryan says:

          Adding new columns to the reports and exports isn’t something that’s natively supported, but certainly you can hook in to modify the queries and output. If you find that the code doesn’t offer places to hook in where you need them, you can let us know and we can see about adding them.

          Reply

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