Forum Discussion
How to Create a FREE Leaderboard for eLearning with Google
This is the intro. Read the full article, watch the videos, and download the sample files from here: http://elearningbrothers.com/how-to-create-a-leaderboard-elearning-google/
Play with a live Storyline example here and see how you rank! http://elbrotherscustom.com/jk/blogs/leaderboard/story.html
“Gamification.” We recognize the benefits (even through all the hype) and we would like to add it to our courses. But where to begin? It is not enough just to add a game to your course. We need a way to make it social. After all, bragging rights go a long way towards reinforcing learning.
I think one of the easiest ways to tip your toe into eLearning gamification is to add a Leaderboard to your course. Leaderboards remind learners that they are not alone, others are completing the same training. They also create some friendly competition and let learners see how they rank among their peers. And often, if they rank low, they will go back and try again on all their own.
But how to add a Leaderboard? And how to do it for free? Google Sheets and a little code provide the solution. I know a lot of you use Google Docs every day. You may not realize that Google allows users to develop add-ons and applications on top of Docs using Google Apps Script (GAS). GAS looks a lot like JavaScript and it hooks into Google Docs to enable you to create all sorts of new tools. I have used it in the past to create printable certificates, detailed course interaction reports, and even a sort of scaled down LMS.
I decided to use Google Sheets and GAS to create a sort of database and API for a Leaderboard. With GAS I was able to turn a spreadsheet into a web application that will receive data from a course and send back a list of the top ten users. I added some JavaScript to my course to handle the sending and receiving from that end. I packaged it all up for you and wrote some directions, which you’ll find below. This week I am adding a Leaderboard to Storyline 2. If you are familiar with JavaScript and feel adventurous you can adapt this to work for Captivate, Lectora, HTML5, etc. And soon I will post code and videos for those tools as well.
The files linked in the resources section of this post have the GAS code and JavaScript in them. Using the instructions below (and watching the videos) you will be able to learn how to create a leaderboard for eLearning with Google:
- Create a Google Sheet
- Add GAS to the Sheet
- Setup the Sheet
- Deploy the Sheet as a Web App
- Add the required variables to your Storyline 2 course
- Trigger the JavaScript to send and receive the data
- Display the Leaderboard to learners
Read the full article, watch the videos, and download the sample files from here: http://elearningbrothers.com/how-to-create-a-leaderboard-elearning-google/
Thanks James for sharing here - it's always great to see more examples. :-)
Good point Ashley!
You can play with a live Storyline example here and see how you rank! http://elbrotherscustom.com/jk/blogs/leaderboard/story.htmlNot working. Leaderboard is not loading.
Hi, James! This is awesome, and I wanted to note that you would also be welcome to post over in our Building Better Courses forum to share with even more folks! :)
Thanks Christie! I will post it there now.
Thank you very much for sharing this, it works great and opens up a whole other world for anyone who wants to save / restore values. As much as I use Google Docs, etc., I was not aware of this capability. Thanks again!
Glad that you found value in this older post Jack :) Thanks for popping in to share. I saw you mention in another thread wanting the leaderboard functionality.
Yes, it is great. Had (have) it up and running in less than 1/2 hour, start to finish.
Oh, that is great! Thanks for the update Jack :)
Hi Jack I tried this and Yes this great! but if I choose- Only myself or Anyone option. I can't get scores in spreadsheet. Is there any other way to do this. because I can't get 3rd option (anyone, even anonymous) in my client google id.
Hi Ashok,
Unfortunately that is the only way it will work unless you tie into
Google's User API and get your learners to sign in with their Google
account. The JavaScript posts the data anonymously (it doesn't have a
Google account).There are a few ways you maybe able to work around it.
1. Set up the whole system in your Google account and then pass
ownership of the doc to your client. I am not sure if the doc ID will
change.
2. Help your client install the code in their account. Then update your
JS with the new document ID.Thank you,
James KingsleyNeed an awesome way to collect feedback?
Don't just collect feedback. Start a conversation.
ReviewMyElearning.com
Hello Ashok - Hopefully Jack is still subscribed here and will be able to pop in and assist you here. If you do not hear back soon, please feel free to reach out to the user directly via the 'Contact Me' option on the user profile.
Hi James,
It appears the leaderboard for the Storyline game you shared no longer works. In looking at the eLearning Bros site, I found the following comment by a member who had the same issue with the leaderboard screen stuck on "Loading..."
"Data wouldn’t send or receive and instead, my projects would just show the “Loading…” message. On these same projects, I noticed that the ‘/exec’ address generated by Google sheets contained ‘macros/s/u/0/’. I put the address in my browser, and found out it was incorrect. I figured out that when there’s a ‘u/0/’ in the address, the app wouldn’t work. The correctly working address always seems to just contain ‘macros/s’ (no ‘u/0’ in sight). I now delete the ‘u/0/’ section in the addresses generated and the projects and respective apps work perfectly."
