How to create district or regional-specific challenge templates

• How to Create and Publish a Challenge Template
• Custom Badges and Badge Groups
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are Challenge Templates?

Challenge templates are sample reading challenges that site administrators can use to create new challenges in Beanstack. Using a challenge template significantly reduces challenge setup time, so we encourage site administrators to use existing challenge templates when possible. 

How to Create and Publish a Challenge Template

Note: If you would like to include your own custom badges in your challenge template, please follow the instructions below to create your custom badges and badge groups first.

1. Create a New Template: On your Beanstack regional or district site, navigate to Challenges > Challenge Templates. Then click “Create a Challenge Template.”
   
2. Select a Challenge Type: On the Challenge Type tab, select the appropriate type for your new template. 
   
   1. Log Any Title – when enabled, allows you to add Logging Badges
   2. Log Specific Titles – when enabled, allows you to add a Reading List
   3. Bingo – when enabled, allows you to add a bingo card to your template
   4. Completed Activities – when enabled, allows you to add Activity Badges
   5. Reviews – when enabled, allows you to add Review Badges
      
      
3. Setup your Template: On the Setup tab, enter the basic details for your challenge template, such as the template's name, description, header image, and more. 
   
   
4. Add your Reading List (if applicable): If you are creating a reading list template, you can add titles to your template's Reading List on the Reading List tab. Clicking “Add Title,” search by Title, Author, or ISBN, select your titles, then click “Add Selection.”
   
   To delete a title from your Reading List, click on the “trash” icon, and to add a link to an e-resource or catalog, click on the “pencil” icon.
5. Add your Badges: To begin adding badges, select one or more badge groups from the menu at the top of the Badges tab. Then add all of the badges and badge requirements to your challenge template. To edit a badge, click the badge name and "Update this badge" to save your changes. 
   
   
6. Add your Bingo Card (if applicable): If you are creating a bingo template, you can create the bingo card layout for your new challenge template on the Bingo Card tab. 
   
   
7. Publish your Challenge Template to your Sites: Confirm your challenge template is ready to publish by navigating between the tabs to review everything you've set. If you would like to preview your template, navigate to the Sites tab, select "No Sites," then click "Create." 
   Once you are ready to publish your template, return to the Sites tab, select either "Specific Sites" or "All Sites" and click "Create" or “Save”!

Custom Badges and Badge Groups

What are Badges and Badge Groups?

Badges and badge groups allow you to add custom badges to Beanstack. To add custom badges to a challenge or challenge template, you must create both badges and a badge group.

How to Add Custom Badges to Your Challenge Template

1. Navigate to Challenges > Your Badge Groups.
2. Click “Create a Badge Group” and enter a name under the Basic Info section.
   
   
3. Under the Badges section, click “Create a New Badge.” Then, add a name, add an image for your badge, reposition the image within the outline, and click “Create” to save your badge.
   
   
4. Add the rest of your badges, then click “Create this badge group” to save your badges and badge group.
   Note: we recommend adding all badges for a specific challenge template to the same badge group. 

To add your badges to a new challenge template:

1. On the Badges tab of the "Create a Challenge Template page, click “Add Badge Groups.”
   
2. Search for and select the name of your badge group from the list, then click “Done.”
3. Now you can add custom badges to your challenge template!

FAQs

Can I preview my challenge template?

Yes! Just select “No Sites” under the Sites tab before saving your template. This will save the challenge template in a draft state. You can preview your template by clicking the eye icon on the Challenge Templates page. 

Can I edit my challenge template after publishing it?

Yes, but keep in mind that any challenges that have already been created from your template will not be updated. We recommend you preview your template before publishing it by following the steps above.

Where can site administrators find my challenge templates? 

Administrators with permission to create challenges will find any of your published challenge templates under the filter “My Local Templates” on the Challenges page in the Challenges Template tab of their Beanstack admin site. 

Do I need to create a badge group every time I add a new template?

If you would like to add custom badges to your template, we recommend you create a new badge group and badges for every new template. If you would like to re-use old badges, you may re-use that particular badge group or groups.