Storyline 360: LRS Support

Learning happens everywhere, even outside of a learning management system (LMS). With a learning record store (LRS), you can collect learner data from various platforms that goes beyond slides viewed, quiz results, and course completion. You can send that data to an LRS, an LMS, or both.

As of November 2021, Storyline 360 includes an LRS publishing option. Here's how it works.

• Publishing a Course for LRS
• Supplying the Actor
• Compatibility

Publishing a Course for LRS

To enable LRS support in Storyline 360, select the LMS / LRS tab in the Publish window, then mark the box to Report to an external LRS. (If you plan on reporting to an LMS as well, mark the LMS box too.)

To set up your LRS configuration, click the Reporting and Tracking button, select the LRS tab in the window that appears, and then choose one of the options described below. You must provide the actor, the LRS endpoint, and authentication (key and secret) credentials.

Supply the LRS Configuration at Launch

Use this option when you don't want to store authentication credentials in your Storyline 360 project file or when you need the option to update the LRS endpoint or credentials without republishing the project.

Your LRS admin or IT staff will use scripts to supply the LRS details, including the actor, endpoint, and credentials. To simplify the setup process, share this LRS Launch Test guide with your LRS admin or IT team so they can enter the following values in the window (as shown below): LRS endpoint, credentials, actor, and URL to start page (i.e., the location of the story.html file in your published output). The launch URL gets generated automatically by the values you enter.

Supply the LRS Configuration Manually

Use this option to enter the LRS endpoint and credentials right in Storyline 360. The configuration details will be stored in your project file, and you'll need to republish the project if you change them later. To check your credentials, click the Test Settings button. Storyline 360 will let you know whether or not it connects to the LRS endpoint. You'll need to supply the actor via a query string unless you publish for an xAPI or cmi5 LMS.

Supplying the Actor

Starting with the February 2022 update, there are now two options for supplying the actor in Storyline 360 when publishing for LRS only or both LRS and a SCORM/AICC LMS. (You don't need to supply the actor when publishing for an xAPI or cmi5 LMS.) To supply the actor, go to the Reporting & Tracking Options window and choose one of the options in the Actor section, as described below.

Supply the Actor via Launch URL

To identify each learner, use this option.

Your LRS admin or IT staff will use scripts to supply the actor, including additional LRS details, such as the endpoint and credentials. To simplify the setup process, share the LRS Launch Test guide with your LRS admin or IT team so they can enter the values in the window. Learn more about supplying the actor via a query string.

Supply the Actor via JavaScript Templates

To set the same actor for all learners with easy-to-use built-in JavaScript templates for static mailboxes, static accounts, and random accounts, use this option. This method is great when you don't need to identify each learner or when you need to test that your LRS reports the actor info correctly.

Mark the JavaScript box and then click the ellipsis (...) to access the LRS Actor JavaScript editor. In the editor, click the Static Mailbox drop-down arrow and select any of these templates:

• Static Mailbox to set the same actor and email address for all learners. The email address doesn't need to be a valid one. Replace mailto:myexample@domain.com and My Example with the values you'd like to report. Don't change the Agent value.
   

  function getActor() {
 return {
 "mbox": "mailto:myexample@domain.com",
 "objectType": "Agent",
 "name": "My Example"
 };
}

• Static Account to set the same actor and name for each learner. Replace https://www.example.com and My Example with the values you'd like to report. Don't change the Agent value.
  
  function getActor() {
 return {
 "objectType": "Agent",
 "account": {
 "homePage": "https://www.example.com",
 "name": "My Example"
 }
 };
}

• Random Account to generate a random actor and name for each learner. Replace https://www.example.com and Random with the values you'd like to report. Don't change the Agent value and the code for random numbers.
  
  function getActor() {
 return {
 "objectType": "Agent",
 "account": {
 "homePage": "https://www.example.com",
 "name": "Random" + Math.floor(Math.random() * Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER)
 }
 };
}

LRS Terms

Familiarize yourself with these LRS terms:

• Activity ID is an internationalized resource identifier (IRI) with a unique string of characters assigned by Storyline 360 that your LRS uses to identify activities in a course.
• Actor is the information used by the LRS to identify each learner—for example, the full name and email address of a learner. You don't need to supply the actor when you publish for an xAPI or cmi5 LMS—your LMS supplies the actor. However, you must provide the actor when you publish for both LRS and SCORM or AICC LMS or you publish for LRS only.
• LRS Endpoint is the URL to an LRS server on the internet.
• Authentication is accomplished by supplying the credentials (key and secret) needed to connect with an LRS.
• Query String is a set of characters that contains the values required to track a course: the LRS endpoint (endpoint), the authentication (auth), and the learner info (actor). Query string parameters are located after the "?" in the launch URL.

Note: Reference the official xAPI documentation for everything you need to know.

Compatibility

Install the Storyline 3 April 2022 update or later to restore compatibility with Storyline 360.

You can open and publish Storyline 360 project files that are set to report to an LRS and use a built-in JavaScript template in Storyline 3. However, you can't publish project files to an LRS and create or edit JavaScript templates in Storyline 3.

Learn more about compatibility.