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xAPI: What It Is, Why You need It, And How to Get Started

You’ve likely heard about xAPI (the Experience API or the Tin Can Project), but maybe you’re not quite sure what all the buzz is about. We've got just the live, online class for you: xAPI: What It Is, Why You need It, And How to Get Started.

 

As adoption of xAPI begins to take hold, it allows for more robust and interesting tracking of the learning process. As actual performance and results data are integrated with learning metrics, we will have the data we need to tailor the learning process to individual needs at the same time that we can draw more useful conclusions about the learning as a whole across a wider population. In this session we’ll take a look at what xAPI can do for you, what tools and platforms you’ll need, and how to get started. 

 

Course Content. After a brief introduction to xAPI and what's new about it from the instructional design side, we'll discuss three key areas that impact instructional designers: 

 

1. Identifying learning data needs, data sources and meaningful visualizations that answer organizational and L&D questions
2. Making choices about infrastructure: how and when to work with your LMS, your LRS or both
3. Models for taking advantage of xAPI across a variety of learning vectors: formal & informal, social & private, formative & summative, predictable & variable

 

The Instructor. Megan Torrance is CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, which helps organizations connect learning strategy to design, development, data, and ultimately performance. Megan, a Certified Online Training Professional (COTP), has more than 25 years of experience in learning design, deployment, and consulting. Megan and the TorranceLearning team are passionate about sharing what works in learning so they devote considerable time to teaching and sharing about Agile project management for learning experience design and, of course, the xAPI. TorranceLearning hosts the xAPI Learning Cohort, a free, virtual 12-week learning-by-doing opportunity where teams form on the fly and create proof-of-concept xAPI projects.

 

Learn more or sign up for "xAPI: What It Is, Why You need It, And How to Get Started" here.

eLearning: xAPI is Geek Free and Ready to Go

by Megan Torrance  

 

In my previous xAPI article I pointed to the emergence of "geek-free tools and platforms" as the hallmark that xAPI is beginning to achieve main-stream status. This isn't the dumbing-down of the specification or possibilities it holds for the industry so much as it is the provision of accessible, entry-level ways to take advantage of xAPI as a stepping stone to providing deeper learning experiences across the whole enterprise. It's a progression of the industry toward more, toward faster, and toward better. 

In the 1960s, Dr. Bruce Tuckman proposed a team development model that lends some structure to the conversation about xAPI. The thinking is that a team goes through more or less orderly stages of Forming > Storming > Norming > Performing as they become a cohesive unit able to grow, face challenges, solve problems and deliver results. The L&D community, in particular the xAPI community, while not a team, is appearing to follow a similar pathway as we move into a post-SCORM reality. Here's a slide I presented at the 2016 ATD ICE conference in Denver. 

In the early Forming and Storming days of xAPI, there were no off-the-shelf tools that supported it. Just about every xAPI project getting press and conference time was a well-resourced, custom-built learner interface for a typically narrow topic area with custom-built data visualizations all in close connection with (it not developed by) the learning record store (LRS) provider. And I include TorranceLearning's own projects in this. Amazing things were happening, but there were a lot of geeks involved. The bar was set high. It wasn't the kind of thing that was within reach for many instructional designers, certainly not for those who needed a pilot project to prove their point about this new-fangled specification within their organizations. 

The "X" in the slide above marks the spot we're in right now: on the left-hand edge of Norming. Here's the evidence: 

• Four leading courseware development tools have adopted the specification, putting the creation of xAPI statements within reach of the average elearning instructional designer/developer. Adobe Captivate, the DominKnow suite, Lectora, and Articulate Storyline all offer publishing capability for xAPI. They each provide a basic level of page and interaction tracking via xAPI, with DominKnow and Lectora offering even more flexibility around the creation of activity statements. 
  
  Real world example: ZingTrain, the training and consulting arm of the Zingerman's Community of Businesses, is building customer service training modules for their employees and to sell to their clients. The courses ask the learners to take what works well in Zingerman's food-centric business and make the necessary tweaks for it to apply to their own work, which could be in any industry. As the learners work their way through the material, they respond with the terminology that is suitable to their role. The course sends xAPI activity statements to the LRS for each screen view, each video view, and each interaction as part of its out of the box functionality. In this case the course will also send the response to each of the personal application questions. ZingTrain will then be able to use this data to get a better understanding of the language and usage of the concepts in their clients' worlds and adjust this and future offerings accordingly. (Note: We are building out this course in both Adobe Captivate 9 and in DominKnow Flow as a comparison of two different approaches to the mobile experience. Stay tuned for the grand reveal of the two projects in this blog. The screenshot below from Adobe Captivate 9.)
  
   

• LMSs are integrating LRS capabilities alongside their SCORM engines, making it easy for organizations to adopt xAPI without an additional capital outlay or the disruption of switching learning platforms. The leading LRS-alone platforms are moving ahead full steam (Wax LRS, Watershed, Learning Locker, and Grassblade), allowing organizations to assemble a best-of-breed learning experience that all reports back to a single data source. Now LMS providers are adding integrated xAPI capability as well, alongside their existing SCORM and AICC support. Whereas a software selection process in 2015 for an integrated LMS/LRS was limited to a very short list of progressive providers (LearnShare, RISC, OnPoint Digital), the bigger players are working on their xAPI capability right now. 2017 will show a far different landscape.
  
  Real world example: Why do you care about integrating LRS and LMS functionality? Because many organizations rely on the course catalog, enrollment, search and reporting functions their LMSes offer. When we have access to and collection of more and more data, reporting becomes the secret weapon, the killer app, the super power that the L&D team needs to wield next. At the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, iBeacons identify student visitors to the iPads placed next to key exhibits. Throughout the students' interactions with the exhibit, the app on the iPad uses xAPI statements to capture data about their interactions, their responses, the time spent on each activity, and the curriculum standard related to the exhibit's science topic. This program uses the LRS embedded within the Museum's LearnShare LMS and leverages its geek-free custom report wizard to query and display details about the interactions. Museum staff have access to use their data without having to ask their vendors for reporting assistance. 

Why the focus on elearning tools and platforms that look like learning management systems when xAPI promises to let us all break free of that hardened infrastructure? Tool providers in the learning space that didn't traditionally support SCORM tend to be (generalization there) slower to adopt xAPI but they are coming around as they see the silo-busting capability here. Not a month goes by that I don't talk with another learning tool provider about getting on the xAPI bandwagon. These providers are heavily invested in their own dashboards and data, but a few are seeing the value to their customers in allowing their data to enter the shared learning ecosystem. Examples? xAPIApps offers a ready-to-go suite of coaching, observation, live training, and assessment tools. Train by Cell is developing their xAPI capability and demoed a basic set of statements at the xAPI Party and TorranceLearning Download in May. 

The xAPI space is a faster moving segment than the rest of the L&D industry. This article, while showing only a few narrow applications, should be outdated in a matter of months... and that's a good thing! Is it time to get on the bandwagon? If not now, it will be pretty soon. At this year's DevLearn conference in November and then TechKnowledge in January, a significant number of speakers and vendors will be talking about xAPI as the industry is getting ready to move.

eLearning: Is it Time to Jump on the xAPI Bandwagon?

by Megan Torrance  

 

xAPI and the Tin Can Project... it's possible that you've been hearing about these terms for years. Or maybe someone just dropped one or both terms into a conversation and you're feeling left out. It's okay. Few eLearning developers have ever developed or seen an eLearning project that uses xAPI. However, given the fact that eLearning development tools and learning platforms now support xAPI, it may be the time to jump on the xAPI bandwagon. 

What is xAPI?

Many people say that xAPI is the next version of SCORM. While xAPI will replace SCORM, to say it's the "next version of SCORM" is like saying my smartphone is the next version of the rotary dial phone. SCORM is the technology standard that means any eLearning course can work in any learning management system. Not to put too much of a fine point on it, but it's the standard that has allowed for the growth and variety that you see in the eLearning world today. When we no longer have to worry about whether our course can talk to our learning system, we can then focus on the instruction. Clients can change vendors without fear because as long as we're all using SCORM the course should work. 

However, SCORM is outdated. It doesn't like to be disconnected from the internet. It only tracks what happens when you're logged into the LMS. And it only tracks a few shallow, boring metrics about what happens in an eLearning course. 

Let's face it, the vast majority of what people learn doesn't happen in the LMS. And that means it doesn't get tracked. You can't see it. You can't measure it. You can't report on it. At least not with much depth. And if you are tracking, you can't switch vendors. Along comes xAPI. 

So, really, what is xAPI? 

xAPI is a simple, lightweight way to send, store, and retrieve data about learning experiences and to share that data across platforms. This data is formatted and sent via structured activity statements by activity providers (like an eLearning course or performance support system) and stored in a learning record store (LRS). The LRS is analogous to the SCORM database in an LMS, but it is not required to handle all the learning management functions that your current platforms likely do.

Here's the magic. This isn't "LAPI" it's "xAPI" and that signals a huge difference in direction. The x in xAPI stands for "experience," not just the "learning" part of things. While an eLearning course can be an activity provider, and for many people that will be the primary source of learning data (at least for a while), xAPI takes us far beyond SCORM. With xAPI you can track activity in performance support tools, participation in online discussions, mentoring conversations, performance assessments, and actual business results. Now we can see a full picture of an individual's learning experience and how that relates to his/her performance.

The API in xAPI stands for Application Programming Interface: it's the way that software systems interact and share data. xAPI activity statements can be generated by activity providers and sent to the LRS, or they can be sent from the LRS to other systems, or from LRS to LRS. The point here is the interoperability. When we're all using the same standard--moving from SCORM to xAPI--tools and content from different vendors can all work together, paving the way to a smoother experience for the organizations we serve and the growth of the industry. 

An xAPI activity statement records experiences in an "I did this" format. The activity statement specifies the actor (who did it), a verb (what was done), a direct object (what it was done to) and a variety of contextual data, including score, rating, language, browser and platform, results, intersections with curricula standards, and almost anything else you want to track.

Is xAPI here to stay?

This is the billion dollar question. With any new technology, there is a small set of leading edge and early adopters who take the plunge, struggle through the kinks of working with something new and forge the way while others wait in the wings to see if this thing is really going to stick. A lot of new ideas fail. And when you're responsible for the learning and development of a large organization with millions of dollars on the line, it's wise to wait and see if this is going to get traction or if it's just a well-hyped flash in the pan. 

Until recently, using xAPI meant a lot of custom programming, close work with your LRS provider, and custom reporting tools. Everything was geeky and custom. It just wasn't scalable for enterprise-wide adoption. Today, xAPI is ready for wider adoption. Major courseware development tools have varying degrees of basic conformance with xAPI and can send statements to an LRS. Several LRSs are commercially available to choose from, and LMS providers are adding an LRS to their suites, either natively or in partnership with LRS providers. Their capabilities are improving all the time. If your current course development tools don't create the activity statements you need, keep in mind that sending xAPI statements requires only simple JavaScript. (If that seems daunting to you, rest assured it is not a big hurdle for your friendly neighborhood software developer.) xAPI is emerging as a geek-free option for the L&D industry. The DISC (Data Interoperability Standards Consortium) has begun the process of developing conformance testing so that tools and products across the industry can be certified. 

Should I use xAPI?

Yes. If you have something to track that cannot be handled by SCORM, xAPI is a viable option for you and it's not difficult to get started. For initial experimentation and testing, most commercial LRS products offer a free trial option.

Want to learn more about xAPI? Check out xAPI Camp or the xAPI Learning Cohort.