What are the minimum requirements for running Tin Canny LearnDash Reporting?
Tin Canny requires PHP 5.6 or higher as well as the latest version of LearnDash. It is a heavier plugin and with large records sets you may require more than 256 MB of memory be allocated to WordPress.
On the Tin Canny Reporting page, I see a loading icon but nothing loads.
First, turn off debug in wp-config.php by changing:
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
To:
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
If the report page still doesn’t load after turning off debug, add the following to wp-config.php:
ini_set('log_errors','On');
ini_set('display_errors','Off');
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL );
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
Can I track eLearning content hosted on Amazon S3?
The LRS installed with the Tin Canny Reporting plugin is local to your WordPress site. It cannot store statements sent from eLearning modules hosted externally or offloaded to another service, including Amazon S3. You need to upload Tin Can modules directly to your WordPress/LearnDash site and modules must be stored on the WordPress install.
Why do I see a blank screen where my module should be?
We usually see this happen when SSL is configured incorrectly. If your site is secure, and all of your URLs in the front end begin with https://, make sure that the URLs for the site under Settings > General in /wp-admin/ also have https:// at the beginning. If they don’t, the URLs must be corrected.
It can also help to check the javascript console (View > Developer > Javascript Console in Chrome) to look for errors.
Why aren’t statements in the Tin Can report tracked?
There are a number of things that could cause this. No data will be tracked if the site is protected with an .htaccess (sitewide) password or if the user completing activities is not signed in. Anything that globally restricts access in some way or disables the REST API could also prevent proper use of Tin Canny.
If you’re using H5P modules, make sure you don’t have the H5P xAPI plugin installed. It will block communications with our Tin Canny endpoint. Also note that not every H5P module type sends xAPI/Tin Can statements; if you’re unsure, try visiting https://h5p.org/content-types-and-applications, go into the content type you’re using, and click the xAPI Coverage tab at the top. If there’s nothing there, the module may not send statements.
Why do I see 403 errors?
Similar to the tracking issues above, anything that could disrupt communications with the virtual Tin Canny LRS endpoint that we create can result in 403 errors. If you use Sucuri or another security/firewall plugin, you will need to whitelist the plugin in its settings. Maintenance plugins or anything else that restricts or redirects access on a sitewide basis is also likely to cause problems.
Does Tin Canny LearnDash Reporting work with all SCORM and xAPI content?
The plugin has been written for and tested extensively with the authoring software listed on https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/authoring-tools-supported/. Although SCORM and xAPI are eLearning standards, different authoring applications do work a little differently in terms of when they send statements and how progress and completion are tracked. Our support is limited to authoring software that we know for certain would work.
Why are the time columns blank in my Course report?
Tin Canny cannot track course time on its own; we rely on the Simple Course Timer module in the Pro addon for the Uncanny LearnDash Toolkit. We include those columns to make it easier to see data collected with that plugin. Also note that time will only be tracked from the time the module is enabled.
I cloned my site and now users can’t access Tin Canny content. What happened?
This can happen in some situations where .htaccess files are included in a clone. To restore access to Tin Canny content, follow these steps:
- Turn the setting Protect SCORM/Tin Can modules off
- Click Save Changes
- Turn the setting Protect SCORM/Tin Can modules on
- Click Save Changes
This will regenerate .htaccess files that are configured for the cloned site.
Rather than just enabling the learndash ‘mark complete’ button, can completion of a course based on xAPI statement (passed) simply mark the learndash topic complete (rather than the user having to manually click the complete button once it has become enabled?)
We don’t currently support marking a topic/lesson complete directly, but we’ve had quite a few requests for it. It’s a bit tricky, as LearnDash won’t typically generate a “Next Topic/Lesson” link unless the topic/lesson has previously been completed, so if a user is viewing it for the first time, we’d need to generate a link once the xAPI statement is received and the topic/lesson marked complete. In that case, it may make just as much sense to simply change the text on the “Mark Complete” button to read “Next Lesson”, as the user will still need to click something to advance to the next topic/lesson.
– Does the plugin work multisite environment?
– Is the plugin compatible with WPML?
While we do have some customers successfully using our plugins with multisite and WPML, we don’t officially support those environments, so we may not be able to resolve some issues that arise from running our plugins in those environments.
For LearnDash integration, can I display a message to the user that “All activities need to be completed before lesson can be marked complete”? Once user completes activity, then the message is replaced with the button?
It would be difficult, but it seems technically feasible if you are or have a good javascript developer. When the Mark Complete button is not enabled it has a different CSS class, so if you had something look for that button and class, you could potentially swap that out for your message and then show the button when the button class changes. I’m afraid we don’t have an easier solution than that though.
We have uploaded both a Tin Can API and Scorm 1.2 elearning module into a lesson within a course. The elearning module was created in Articulate 360 and has an inbuilt quiz which requires you to achieve a score of 80% to pass.
We are finding that the course progress bar in our course page is not recording the fact that we have taken the elearning module – it is showing ‘not started’. We have both passed and failed the quiz but still no change in the course status. The course only contains one lesson.
I’m afraid that the Progress Bar widget is a LearnDash widget that can consider LearnDash course progress only. It cannot consider progress in an uploaded module. In your example, where a course has a single lesson, the progress bar can only have 2 states: 0% complete and 100% complete. Tin Canny does not have a progress bar for slides viewed within an uploaded module, but if you want to use the LearnDash one you could consider breaking the uploaded module into smaller pieces and using additional lessons and topics.
Is there a way to constrain or somehow limit the list of courses that appears in the Tin Canny reports? For example, if we have “unofficial” sample courses, or any courses that are under development, seeing them on the Tin Canny reports creates visual noise that we would like to eliminate. So, for purposes of Tin Canny reporting, can we specify an “official” list of courses via tags, categories, or other meta-data? Or conversely, can we specify a list of courses NOT to include? Thanks in advance!
I’m afraid this is not possible; all courses are always shown in Tin Canny reports. No changes to this behaviour are currently in our roadmap, though you could accomplish what you want with some development.
Hi, we are not using Tin Canny today, but Grassblade xAPI companion and LRS. However, I am potentially looking to change that for several reasons.. But trying to understand a few things.
1. Does the Uncanny Owl Tin Canny module actually replace both the xAPI companion and the LRS? It seems that way from what I have seen, but want to confirm..
1a – so the module adds the Tin Canny Uploader, which would let me upload my iSpring Zip files, correct? Are these actually uploaded and stored locally? Asking as I have some pretty big files and I see performance issues with uploading them to WP directly – I am currently able to load them from Dropbox – is there a functionality like that?
1b – so the module “creates” its own LRS directly in WP? As we all know how many statements get created with Tin Can – any performance issues there? Does it create a separate database, I would think? Just trying to understand some more details..
2. Is completion tracking and completion requirement (e.g. 80%) only set on authoring tool level or is there an additional setting within the Tin Canny plugin?
3. Can I show completion results to the user on the front-end underneath the xAPI content?
Thanks so much for any input around this.
Hi Helma,
Great questions!
1. Correct, Tin Canny includes both the uploader and the system to track data (not technically an LRS, but it works the same way). No additional plugins or tools are needed.
1a. Yes, modules are uploaded and stored locally. We don’t have a Dropbox integration but there are instructions in our Knowledge Base for partially uploading very large files by FTP.
1b. Compared to Grassblade, absolutely, there’s an additional performance hit. Every interaction in iSpring is going to pass a statement to WordPress. The hit is usually minor, but since Grassblade can offload everything, it’s going to be more efficient. And yes, Tin Canny adds several new tables, including for tracked statements and resume/bookmarking data.
2. You set what triggers Passed and Completed verbs in the authoring tool. On the Tin Canny side you can then use those (optionally) to control whether LearnDash Mark Complete buttons are enabled or disabled (e.g. only unlock the Mark Complete button if user has recorded a Completed verb for this module).
3. It depends what you mean by “Completion Results”. Only admins can see all tracked activities. Users and Group Leaders can only see scores tracked from your iSpring modules in the front end (there are some included quiz reports)–not verbs or slide activity.
Hi, I’m trying to figure out whether I can track interactions as well as course completions using Tin Canny for a LearnDash course.
Specifically, I’d like to see what learners write in their essay questions – or what they type into the text variable free response boxes in a Storyline course. Is that possible?
thanks so much!
Hi Nancy,
This one is difficult to answer. 🙂 There is no consolidated view of this data for admins, if that’s what you mean. For Group Leaders (and users) there are the quiz reports in the front end (https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/front-end-quiz-reports/) for LearnDash essay questions. For quiz text data in Storyline, you would have to use the xAPI Quiz report in the back end, but that’s for admins only. Then if you need summary level of essay question data from LearnDash in the front end, the only plugin of ours that offers it is the Groups plugin, and then the report is for Group Leaders.
Hi,
You just answered my question – and I really appreciate that. It’s totally fine to use the xAPI Quiz report in the back end – it would only be an admin that needs the access. But how do I use the xAPI quiz report? Do I need to set something up in my Storyline file? I have an essay question, which learners have to submit, but do I need to do anything else in the Storyline file? And how do I access that info in Tin Canny reports on the back end?
thank you!!
Hi Nancy,
The xAPI quiz report should capture data automatically in its report tab in the back end when it detects data sent by Storyline as part of a quiz. (So in your example, it wouldn’t just pass a text variable that’s not part of a quiz.) Have a look at https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/xapi-quiz-report-beta/ for more info and make sure you’re using a very recent version of Tin Canny.
Hi… Can I see some demo of the “Unncanny” plugin activated to mount and verify reports and status change of a completed lesson from SCORM in LearnDash?
Hi Alex, you can give our plugins a try at https://learndash.uncannyowl.com/. We’re also happy to test files or send screenshots, and we do have a 30 day refund policy.
Hi,
I have an issue when uploading the Scorm package with Tincanny Uploader.
I tried many times but it has never been successfull. The progress only completes around 80 – 99% and stops there.
Can you help me to solve the issue?
You should definitely submit a ticket with more information. Usually this is because the server is timing out or there’s an unzipping problem. You can also use the partial FTP upload method described at https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/storyline-captivate-uploader/#Very_large_files if resources are limited in your environment.