Module tracking with Google Analytics

Hi Matt,

We are finding that the compatibility with our LRS, our learning content and our websites is becoming more temperamental. Sometimes a software update will mean we can't update content on a site; sometimes our LRS (Grassblade xAPI) stops working; the URLs stop loading; the short-code links it generates don't work; we have to use extremely long and messy URLS to load some sites; one of them refuses to allow us to log into the LRS dashboard, and one hasn't generated any data for several months. Overall I would describe our LRS as clunky at best.

We don't use our LMS for the most part (we have no "courses" that need pass/fail tracking or scoring). We use the LRS primarily to track module launches and completions (TinCan xAPI) through the "attempted" and "completed" statements, and use it to look at page views alongside GA. We also use it to differentiate between different users (which modules are most popular with which users, etc.). 

Some of our sites are also generating so much data that the LRS simply can't handle it. Last week I generated a report for one client that ran from 1 Jan 2020 to now...there was over 60,000 pieces of information and I had to generate reports in 3 month chucks because otherwise the whole thing would fall apart. We do want to be able to limit the use of plugins, as they are becoming increasingly less likely to play nice with each other.

We have had success with the above GA code for several years, for clients who just want to track page views through the user of hyperlinks. We've never had an instance of it not working. The idea is to create custom events to track launches and completions within Google Analytics using menu variables within storyline. However, the only thing we are a little stuck on is how to differentiate between different logged in users. I know that GA does not do this.