Adobe Captivate: Analyze and Chart Quiz Data Without an LMS

by Kevin Siegel

In the past, if you created an eLearning quiz and needed to track the results, your only option was to use a Learning Management System (LMS).

Adobe Captivate 5 offers an alternate reporting option to using an LMS: you can create a free account on Acrobat.com, and set the reporting preferences in a Captivate project so that the quiz results are uploaded to Acrobat.com. After that, you can use the Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer, a free AIR-based desktop application, to track the learner results.

I'm not saying that Acrobat.com replaces an LMS, or that using an LMS is a bad idea. In truth, if your learning initiative is large and you have to train thousands of learners, an LMS offers you the best chance at success. A typical LMS can support hundreds to thousands of students and provides myriad high-end tracking and reporting features. Of course, you can expect to pay thousands of dollars for those features.

Let's take a look at what Acrobat.com and the Quiz Results Analyzer offer--for free.

Configure Acrobat.com as an LMS and Upload Quiz Data

1. Open or create a project that includes a quiz.
   
   
2. Choose Quiz > Quiz Preferences.
   
   
3. With the Quiz Reporting category selected, select Enable reporting for this project.
   
   
   
   
   
4. From the Learning Management System (LMS) area, select Acrobat.com.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Configure button.
   
   The Configure Acrobat.com Settings dialog box opens.
   
   
6. Type your Adobe ID and Password into the appropriate fields (you will need an Acrobat.com account to proceed).
   
   
7. Fill in the Company/Institute, Department, and Course fields.
   
   
8. Click the Save button.
   
   
9. Click the OK button.
   
   
10. Go to the Quiz Results slide in your project and you'll notice that a Post Result button has automatically been added.
    
    
11. Publish the project and view the results.
    
    
12. Take the quiz and when you get to the results slide, click the Post Results button to post the results to Acrobat.com.

Analyze the Quiz Results

1. Start the Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer.
   
   As mentioned earlier, the Quiz Results Analyzer is a free AIR-based desktop application you use to track learner quiz results. The program should have been installed on your computer at the same time that Adobe Captivate was installed.
   
   
2. Click the Sign in button and Sign in using your Acrobat.com credentials.
   
   
3. Select the Organization, Department and Course you set up in step 7 above.
   
   
4. And Bam! You'll see the quiz results. How cool is that? Want something cooler? Click the Chart button in the upper right of the Quiz Results Analyzer and create a nifty bar chart of the quiz results. Bam, bam and bam!
   
   

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Looking to learn Captivate? We have a couple of options... we still offer two online classes for Captivate 4, Beginner and Advanced. Click herefor details on the Beginner class. Click herefor details on the Advanced class. We also have a 3-hour class devoted to Advanced Actions. Click hereto learn more about that class. Lastly, we've got classes for the new Captivate 5. We are currently offering a Captivate 5 Essentialsclass (the Advanced class is under development).

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Comments

[Satansbrand]

Thanks for this, but... for some reason when I run the Quiz Analyzer it says new users should it download them and when I click yes the results don't update and there is only one name, I have followed your instructions to the letter but it still doesn't show new data, the only number that changes is the attempts. Hopefully you can help.

Cheers
Rob

[Jona]

I tried this with my Adobe account info (confirmed to be the correct info). In the Configure Acrobat.com Settings dialog box, I receive an error: "Unable to login. Please check your network connection." My connection is fine. Any ideas?

[anita]

is acrobat free

[Kevin Siegel]

Acrobat? No. Acrobat.com? Oh yes.

[Dan]

Is there a way for a user to post results without having to register/sign-in to Acrobat.com?

[Kevin Siegel]

Hi Dan,

If you elect to use the Acrobat.com route, then yes, your learners will need to sign in again (they won't have to register a second time but will need to enter their credentials). If you elect to use your own server, you could bypass the whole login and sign up process.

[Patti Murphy]

I'm having the same problem as Jona. When I log in, I get this message: "Unable to log in. Please check your network connection".

I can sign into the Adobe.com site with my adobe id and password. Help!

[Kevin Siegel]

When this has happened in the past, it is either due to a Firewall issue, lack of Admin rights or the Adobe server is down. I know that it's working today because I am teaching an online class today; 8 out of 8 students were able to use the feature without issue. Have you tried running your software as an Admin?

[D]

Followed these steps but once I set up the Acrobat.com option the Post Result button doesn't show up anymore. Any ideas why? I've seen multiple post about this issue but no answers, please help. Thanks

[Jack Butler]

Using Captivate 5.5, I can upload test results from within Captivate in the preview mode. However, when I publish, I'm getting "Acrobat.com login error" after I enter username and password. My guess is that this is related to flash security, but I can't track it down.

Any thoughts?
Thanks

[Kevin Siegel]

Try putting the lesson on your web server and try again. Local links are often blocked.

[Jack Butler]

Moving the quiz to the web server seems to work. Thank you.

Does anyone have experience with reporting scores on Acrobat.com? It seems functional, but the reporting is somewhat limited.

Thanks,