How to Integrate Retool with FutureLearn

FutureLearn's Partner API is not publicly available to all users — it requires a partner relationship. If your organization publishes courses on FutureLearn or has a corporate learning agreement, contact your FutureLearn account manager or visit the FutureLearn Partners portal to request API access. Once API access is enabled, you will receive one of two credential types depending on your partner tier. For organizations with full partner access, you receive an OAuth 2.0 Client ID and Client Secret used to authenticate via the authorization code or client credentials flow. For simpler partner integrations, FutureLearn may provide a static API token that is passed as a Bearer token in request headers. For OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow (recommended for server-to-server integrations like Retool), request a token via POST https://www.futurelearn.com/oauth/token with body: grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET. The response includes an access_token valid for a specific duration. Store your credentials in Retool Configuration Variables: Settings → Configuration Variables. Create FUTURELEARN_ACCESS_TOKEN (mark as secret), FUTURELEARN_CLIENT_ID, FUTURELEARN_CLIENT_SECRET, and FUTURELEARN_ORG_ID. If using a static API token, store only FUTURELEARN_ACCESS_TOKEN.

In Retool, navigate to the Resources tab and click Add Resource. Select REST API from the connector list. Name: FutureLearn Partner API Base URL: https://www.futurelearn.com Authentication: Select Bearer Token. In the Token field, enter {{ retoolContext.configVars.FUTURELEARN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}. This references the access token stored as a configuration variable in the previous step. Add a default header: Content-Type: application/json. For OAuth 2.0 setups where the token expires, you will need to implement token refresh. Create a refreshToken query in your Retool app that posts to /oauth/token with the client credentials — then use a Retool Workflow to refresh the token on a schedule. Click Create Resource. Test the connection by creating a test query: GET /api/v1-partner/runs to list available course runs your organization manages. A 200 OK response with course run data confirms authentication is working. A 401 Unauthorized response means the access token is expired or incorrect. For API version clarity: FutureLearn's partner endpoints use /api/v1-partner/ as the path prefix. Individual learner and course data endpoints follow this structure: /api/v1-partner/runs/{run_id}/enrollments for enrollments, /api/v1-partner/runs/{run_id}/steps for step data.

Create a getCourseRuns query: GET /api/v1-partner/runs. This returns all course runs associated with your partner organization. Each run object includes: run_id, name (course name with run number), course_slug, start_date, end_date, enrollment_count, and status (active, upcoming, archived). Create a Select component bound to getCourseRuns.data for the user to pick which course run to analyze. When a run is selected, trigger the next query automatically. Create a getEnrollments query: GET /api/v1-partner/runs/{{ select_courseRun.value }}/enrollments. This returns all learner enrollments for the selected run with: learner_identifier (anonymized or email depending on your partner agreement), enrolled_at, unenrolled_at, fully_participated_at (date of completion), purchased_statement_at (certificate purchase date), and step_completion_percentage. The step_completion_percentage field is the most important for progress tracking — it represents the percentage of course steps the learner has marked as complete. Learners with 100% step completion who also have fully_participated_at populated have completed the course. Add pagination parameters to getEnrollments: page: {{ Math.floor(table_enrollments.pagination.offset / 100) + 1 }} and per_page: 100.

1// Transformer for FutureLearn enrollments
2const enrollments = data?.enrollments || [];
3const today = new Date();
4
5return enrollments.map(enrollment => {
6  const enrolledDate = enrollment.enrolled_at ? new Date(enrollment.enrolled_at) : null;
7  const completedDate = enrollment.fully_participated_at ? new Date(enrollment.fully_participated_at) : null;
8  const daysEnrolled = enrolledDate ? Math.floor((today - enrolledDate) / 86400000) : 0;
9
10  let completionStatus = 'In Progress';
11  if (enrollment.unenrolled_at) completionStatus = 'Unenrolled';
12  else if (completedDate) completionStatus = 'Completed';
13  else if (enrollment.step_completion_percentage === 0 && daysEnrolled > 7) completionStatus = 'Inactive';
14
15  return {
16    learner_id: enrollment.learner_identifier,
17    enrolled_at: enrolledDate ? enrolledDate.toLocaleDateString() : '',
18    completed_at: completedDate ? completedDate.toLocaleDateString() : '',
19    progress: `${Math.round(enrollment.step_completion_percentage || 0)}%`,
20    progress_raw: enrollment.step_completion_percentage || 0,
21    status: completionStatus,
22    days_enrolled: daysEnrolled,
23    has_certificate: !!enrollment.purchased_statement_at,
24    certificate_date: enrollment.purchased_statement_at ? new Date(enrollment.purchased_statement_at).toLocaleDateString() : ''
25  };
26});

Create a getCourseSteps query: GET /api/v1-partner/runs/{{ select_courseRun.value }}/steps. This returns all steps in the selected course run with: position (step number), title, step_type (article, video, discussion, quiz, assignment), and completion_percentage (what percentage of enrolled learners completed this step). The step-level completion percentages reveal the drop-off funnel — steps with significantly lower completion than the previous step indicate content friction points where learners are abandoning the course. Create a Chart component (set to Line or Bar chart type) and bind it to a transformer that formats the steps data as a Plotly-compatible dataset: return { x: steps.map(s => `Step ${s.position}: ${s.title.substring(0, 30)}`), y: steps.map(s => s.completion_percentage) }. For cohort comparison (comparing completion across multiple runs of the same course), create a second Select for a comparison run and run getCourseSteps again with the comparison run ID. Display both completion series on the same Chart to show whether a redesigned course step improved completion rates. For the overview summary Stat components, compute: total enrolled, total completed (fully_participated_at not null), completion rate (completed/enrolled × 100), and average progress percentage across all learners.

1// Transformer for step completion funnel chart
2const steps = data?.steps || [];
3return {
4  data: [{
5    x: steps.map(s => `Step ${s.position}`),
6    y: steps.map(s => Math.round(s.completion_percentage || 0)),
7    type: 'bar',
8    name: 'Completion %',
9    marker: {
10      color: steps.map(s => {
11        const pct = s.completion_percentage || 0;
12        if (pct >= 70) return '#22c55e';
13        if (pct >= 40) return '#f59e0b';
14        return '#ef4444';
15      })
16    },
17    text: steps.map(s => `${s.title.substring(0, 25)}...`),
18    hovertext: steps.map(s => `${s.title}<br>Type: ${s.step_type}<br>Completion: ${Math.round(s.completion_percentage || 0)}%`)
19  }],
20  layout: {
21    title: 'Step Completion Funnel',
22    yaxis: { title: 'Completion %', range: [0, 100] },
23    xaxis: { title: 'Course Step' }
24  }
25};

The most powerful FutureLearn Retool integration joins FutureLearn enrollment data with your internal HR database. This requires a second Retool Resource configured for your database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or another supported engine). Create a getEmployees query against your HR database: SELECT id, name, email, department, manager_name, hire_date FROM employees WHERE active = true ORDER BY department, name. In a JavaScript query called buildComplianceReport, join the datasets by email address: The join produces a unified dataset showing each employee with their FutureLearn enrollment status, progress, and completion date. Employees not in the FutureLearn enrollments list are shown as 'Not Enrolled'. Employees with step_completion_percentage = 100 and fully_participated_at populated are shown as 'Completed'. Display the compliance view in a Table with a completion rate summary by department. Add a Chart showing completion percentage per department as horizontal bars — departments below 80% compliance are highlighted in red for manager follow-up. For L&D teams managing compliance reporting across dozens of FutureLearn courses and thousands of employees, combining multiple data sources and building scheduled report exports, RapidDev's team can help architect the complete Retool solution.

1// JavaScript query: join HR employees with FutureLearn enrollments
2const employees = getEmployees.data;
3const enrollments = getEnrollments.data;
4
5// Build lookup map from FutureLearn data
6const enrollmentByEmail = {};
7enrollments.forEach(e => {
8  enrollmentByEmail[e.learner_id] = e;
9});
10
11// Join datasets
12const report = employees.map(emp => {
13  const enrollment = enrollmentByEmail[emp.email];
14  return {
15    name: emp.name,
16    email: emp.email,
17    department: emp.department,
18    manager: emp.manager_name,
19    enrolled: !!enrollment,
20    progress: enrollment ? enrollment.progress : '0%',
21    status: enrollment ? enrollment.status : 'Not Enrolled',
22    completed_at: enrollment ? enrollment.completed_at : '',
23    has_certificate: enrollment ? enrollment.has_certificate : false
24  };
25});
26
27// Summary by department
28const deptSummary = {};
29report.forEach(r => {
30  if (!deptSummary[r.department]) deptSummary[r.department] = { total: 0, completed: 0 };
31  deptSummary[r.department].total++;
32  if (r.status === 'Completed') deptSummary[r.department].completed++;
33});
34
35return { report, deptSummary };