Capture and report Language selection in LMS

Nov 16, 2020

Hello.  I have a Storyline 360 course with multiple languages. I want to capture in our LMS which language the learner selects. Is there a way to do that?

I assume I should have the first or main scene be the language selector page that links to different scenes containing the various languages.

4 Replies
Katie Riggio

Hi Thomas!

This related discussion offers helpful pointers and examples to show you how to make quizzing work with multiple languages in one course.

Better yet, Storyline 360 Update 44 and up offers more ways to track learners' results with expanded quiz tracking. They're especially valuable when you need to create branching scenarios.

Check out these powerful new features:

Joseph Francis

The SCORM Reference Models contain elements dedicated to this. In SCORM 1.2, the element is cmi.student_preference.languageIn SCORM 2004, it is cmi.learner_preference.language.

In both instances, the element is used by a SCO with multi-lingual capability to both set and obtain from the LMS language preferences for the student.

Storyline contains a paired set of JavaScript functions which read and write to these elements, GetLanguagePreference and SetLanguagePreference.

Using JavaScript, you would retrieve the learner's language preference like this:

var lmsAPI = window.parent;
var player = GetPlayer();
var lmsLanguagePreference = lmsAPI.GetLanguagePreference();
player.SetVar("lmsLanguagePreference", lmsLanguagePreference);

You will need to have a variable in Storyline declared so that you can display and manipulate the value; I used lmsLanguagePreference in this instance. I've previously used a drop-down interaction type to allow the user to select the language; however you do it is up to you.

To return the learner's language preference to the LMS, you would do something like this:

var lmsAPI = window.parent;
var player = GetPlayer();
lmsAPI.SetLanguagePreference(player.GetVar("lmsLanguagePreference"));

The single-biggest issue I have run into is cmi.student_preference.language / cmi.learner_preference.language are not mandatory elements in Learning Management Systems, and some LMS manufacturers do not support them. While SCORM Cloud will obviously accept, retain, and return the value when queried, not all LMS' will. You will need to check with your LMS admin and provider to see if your particular LMS supports cmi.student_preference.language / cmi.learner_preference.language.

HTH

Steve Johnson

Thomas,

Did you ever get a resolution to your need for a way to use a drop-down language selector beginning slide and then have a scene for each language of the course (which I have done) and then have it be able to report to the LMS which language scene the learner chose to take and complete the course, for reporting purposes?

I am looking for this capability because while what I developed works fine to complete the course and even reports it as a completion no matter which scene (language) and corresponding final quiz you choose, it does not report which language the user chose to complete it.

We want that functionality to be able to show it in reports to justify paying for translations to specific languages in future projects.