1. The Experience API (Tin Can)
Introduction to xAPI
The Experience API (Tin Can)

2. Agenda Definition History xAPI Benefits xAPI Statements
What is an LRS?
xAPI Myths
Definition: What is xAPI?
History of development; how’d we get here?
TLA – ADL’s design for the future, which contains xAPI as a component

3. Definition: What is xAPI?
“The purpose of the xAPI is to store and provide access to learning experiences. The xAPI enables tracking of learning experiences, including traditional records, such as scores and completion. It also (can) records learners’ actions, like reading an article or watching a training video.” -ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning)
Tin Can and xAPI are the same thing
-xAPI is designed to track all types of learning experiences, not just those you might consider “traditional learning”. We’ll talk about the types of learning experiences xAPI can track later in this presentation.
-Technically, Tin Can as the project to collect and collate the problems and develop a new standard, the result of which is xAPI. However, most people now use the terms interchangeably.

4. How did we get here? AICC (1988)
SCORM Sharable Content Object Reference Model
2001, 2004
Initially based on AICC
Most people don’t know that SCORM was originally based on the AICC standard

5. SCORM LMS to training content communication Designed for the desktop
Uses a common packaging, communication and launching mechanism

6. What’s wrong with SCORM?
All learning MUST be launched from LMS
Content must reside in same domain as LMS
Cannot put content on CDN to improve performance
Inefficient
SCORM is complicated
SCORM content MUST be run in a browser
No mobile “apps”
No “off line” (yet…but it is more than 10 years old)
Easily Hacked - Old technology
…and on and on…
-Launched from LMS
How much learning today occurs in the LMS vs. outside the LMS?
-Easily hacked
It is just javascript; A clever user can set their own score.
ADL has white papers on its web site listing problems with SCORM

7. The changing landscape
Proliferation of mobile devices (BYOD)
Social networking / Social Learning
Gaming
Simulations
YouTube
How can we track it?
-Proliferation
The number of connected devices exceeds the world’s population (Cisco)
SCORM is not designed for mobile
-Social Networking includes:
Yammer, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc
-Gaming & Simulations Company using Second Life to teach customer service skills
-YouTube Videos for “how to”
-Tracking If we only have SCORM and the LMS, are we really tracking what and how our students are learning?

8. xAPI Benefits Learning can be recorded wherever it occurs
Learning content does not have to reside in a browser
Learning does not have to be “launched” from an LMS
Mobile apps
Social Networking
Gaming & Simulations

9. xAPI Benefits (cont) Learning content can be distributed
Uses modern, common technology
(REST, JSON)
Much simpler than SCORM
-Learning Content
-Modern
-Much simpler than SCORM
- Some developers told me they have adapted content to xAPI in just a few days

10. xAPI Statements I did this. Statements: Actor, verb, object
Based on work done by Google, Facebook and others: Activity Stream
Examples:
“Jack completed safety training.”
“Christie experienced the Great Wall in Second Life”
I did this.
Second example
-This is an example of a complex statement. We’ll take a look at in just a moment.

11. Verbs xAPI does not “require” any particular verbs
Each verb has description and can be translated
Verb “ID” should be unique iri ex:
ADL has registry that can be downloaded
Rustici Software has an extensive registry of verbs
Verb Descriptions
-This allows distinguishing similar verbs
-If what you need does not match the description, don’t use it – avoid confusion!

12. xAPI has many layers
Complex Statements [In the context of ___] Actor [ or group ___] verb object [with these results]
Examples:
“On an iPad, while offline, John completed Sales Training 101 with a score of 100.”
“In WordPress Tim contributed to an article called ‘The Emerging Standards for Mobile Learning’”
Team-based statements
“Team 3 completed special ops training”
-after examples
Imagine the analytics we can get from this statement. Is training more effective (i.e. are higher scores achieved) on an iPad than the desktop? Do our students prefer training offline or online?

13. Learning Record Store (LRS)
Stores xAPI statements
Also required to “return” statements when queried with valid credentials.
Implications
Data can be fetched from one LRS into another
An organization may implement multiple LRS, each specializing in some type of reporting
Can be standalone or integrated into an LMS
-Stores xAPI Statements
-Must return statements
One of the problems with SCORM is that there are no reporting requirements. xAPI requires the LRS to have basic query functionality.
LRS’s can import data from other LRS’s.
Concept of Personal Data Store; learner’s take their training with them

14. LRS Data Sources LRS ??? E-Book LMS Social Network Blog Game
Examples:
Several e-book products that write to LRS
RISC has a PDF Annotation tool that stores student annotations in the LRS
Tappestry social network product writes to LRS
SharePoint plug-in that writes document views to LRS
“Scanvenger Hunt” game at mLearnCon 2012 wrote to LRS
Explosives storage game
Game
SharePoint
E-Learning

15. Myths: xAPI replaces SCORM
SCORM is not going away…yet
ADL may develop a SCORM version that uses xAPI as its transport layer
At the moment, ADL is not updating SCORM
Conflicting stories
Or…see CMI5

16. Myths: LRS will replace LMS
Scheduling
Learning Records
Requirements
Tracking
Assessment
Sequencing
Certification
Competencies
User Management
Curricula Definition
LRS is only a small part of an LMS
LRS allows training from all sources to be accessible to LMS reporting, or stand-alone LRS can get data feed from LMS for analytics
Delivery
Reports
Search
Course Management
Player
Preferences

17. Who’s using xAPI? xAPI was released April 26, 2013
>70 Adopters listed on TinCanAPI.com website
Examples:
Articulate Storyline (adopted)
Adobe Captivate (announced)
Blackboard (adopted)
DomiKnow Claro (adopted)
Float Mobile (adopted)
RISC VTA LMS (adopted)
Saltbox LRS (adopted)
Lectora (adopted)
Web sites in references have list
-Really fast adoption; compare to SCORM

18. What’s Next Analytics reporting from LRS is just getting started
Additional protocols will be developed on top of xAPI
Example AICC CMI5
Libraries are available to create your own apps write to LRS
Ex: Float Mobile has free iOS library for sending xAPI statements
Too new for their to be great reporting from the LRS.
What’s old is new again; AICC CMI5 project is supported by ADL
Plug-in for sharepoint

19. References ADL http://www.adlnet.gov/tla/experience-api
xAPI Specification
Tin Can Project
Layers of the Tin Can Onion
Good overview of xapi at ADL, along with free presentations; your tax dollars at work!
Tin Can Onion document is great, in-depth look at xAPI

20. Introduction to xAPI Thanks for attending Art Werkenthin
@RISC_INC
@AWerkenthin