Digital Transformation in the PLM domain - distrib.pdf
xAPI Ecosystem xAPI Party May 2019
1. Building the xAPI Learning
EcosystemMegan Torrance | xAPI Party May 2019
AdobeStock_47575701
2. Why xAPI?
Measurement & analytics
Move data across courses, platforms, functions
Record more than just course data
Personalize learning
Track activity of multiple people at once
Offline storage
6. The
Learning
Record
Store
… receives, stores, gives back xAPI data
… can be tested for conformance which
ensures interoperability
(https://adopters.adlnet.gov/)
… is not a learning management system (LMS)
7. A typical
LMS today
(and who has just
one?!?!)
Users
Course
s
Enrollments
SCOR
M Data
Reporting
Courses
Classe
s
Certs
Badges
SocialLearning
Messaging
Performance,Talenthooks
Reporting
Game
s
Sims
Perf
Supp
Dash
boards
eCommerce
Import/Export to Biz Data
14. LEARNING RECORD STORES
Out of the box:
• Data storage & retrieval
• Visualizations & reporting
Connecting to analytics
• Tableau, Microsoft BI, Envision BI, etc.
UP TO DATE LIST OF CONFORMANT LRS:
https://adopters.adlnet.gov/
THIS LIST IS INCOMPLETE
THIS LIST IS GROWING 15
15. LMSes WITH LRS INSIDE
Out of the box:
• Learning management functions
• SCORM & AICC
• Full xAPI LRS
• Data includes both LMS & xAPI
UP TO DATE LIST OF CONFORMANT LRS:
https://adopters.adlnet.gov/
THIS LIST IS INCOMPLETE
THIS LIST IS GROWING
LearnShare
16
16. LMSes WITH “xAPI SUPPORT”
These are non-conformant LRSes.
Out of the box:
• Learning management functions
• SCORM & AICC
• Launch &/or store xAPI
They may struggle with:
• Accepting statements from outside the LMS
• Reporting data in extensions
THIS LIST IS INCOMPLETE
THIS LIST IS GROWING 17
17. LMSes THAT CONNECT TO YOUR LRS
These systems are learning record providers.
What you can expect:
• xAPI statements from courses & experiences
• Non-SCORM LMS activity, too
• To buy an LRS also
THIS LIST IS INCOMPLETE
THIS LIST IS GROWING 18
18.
19. How do I make sure that the data isn’t a total
mess?
20. Actor verb object result context
mtorrance@torrancelearning.com
mtorrrrance@torrancelearning.com
mmtorrance@gmail.com
mmtorrance
mmtorrance (on
learning.acme.com)
@MMTorrance
6822984230
22. Create & organize unique
identifiers
(not actual URLs)
Follow a guide to activity types:
http://xapi.vocab.pub
Know what your software sends
https://acme.com/xapi/activities/elearning/coursetitle/moduletitle/activityname
https://acme.com/xapi/activities/video/videotitle
https://acme.com/xapi/activities/ebook/ebooktitle
https://acme.com/xapi/curricula/curriculumtitle
Sample
structure
Actor verb object result context
25. FORMING STORMING NORMING PERFORMING
xAPI needs geeks Geek-free tools emerge
Communities of Practice work to define usage
Conformance & Certification emerge
Project Tin Can Specification Standard
More common
than SCORM
Is xAPI ready for prime time?
26. Start where
you are
Launch xAPI record providers from the LMS
(cmi5):
Send xAPI from triggers in a SCORM course
Export SCORM data from LMS to LRS
27. Wait for
your LMS to
adopt xAPI
Offer to beta test.
Get a sidecar LRS for your special projects and
new projects.
• Two sets of reports
• Export xAPI “Completions” LMS
28. Start
shedding
SCORM
Stop using SCORM where you can.
If you have to, build for SCORM knowing you’ll
use xAPI.
• Flexible tools that do both
• Follow best practices for xAPI now
(xAPI Quarterly)
Start asking the “x” question.
30. Get started!
www.torrancelearning.com/xapi-
cohort
Free 12-week, vendor-neutral learning-by-doing-in-teams experience.
Weekly web meetings 2-3pm ET (recorded). Winter/Spring & Fall
Ad hoc teams form to tackle a project together and provide weekly report-
outs.
They say that the easy way to learn is from others’ mistakes. The hard way is from your own mistakes. The tragic way is not learning from either.
That’s because it’s all about interoperability. You’re building a large platform … not continuing a bunch of silos held together with bailing twine and bandages.
But that’s a completely different story for a different day.
Few other industries have attempted this degree of interoperability. This is the real positive legacy of SCORM – it has allowed this industry to boom.
With the integrated approach, a single platform does all the things, including both SCORM and xAPI. It’s all the things that you have come to expect from your LMS provider, with xAPI thrown in, too.
One of Megan’s clients has a major integrated learning management system and that platform is adding xAPI support. This means that all the work they did in the last two years to select and implement a major piece of software doesn’t have to be undone, or they don’t have to start over in order to support xAPI projects they have waiting in the wings.
Rob’s clients use xAPI-enabled training to train non-employees, where they access the training completely outside the LMS. The integrated LRS permits tracking of the training no matter if the user takes the course on the LMS as an employee, or on a website for business partners… it’s integrated and seamless from a reporting perspective.
With the integrated approach, a single platform does all the things, including both SCORM and xAPI. It’s all the things that you have come to expect from your LMS provider, with xAPI thrown in, too.
One of Megan’s clients has a major integrated learning management system and that platform is adding xAPI support. This means that all the work they did in the last two years to select and implement a major piece of software doesn’t have to be undone, or they don’t have to start over in order to support xAPI projects they have waiting in the wings.
Rob’s clients use xAPI-enabled training to train non-employees, where they access the training completely outside the LMS. The integrated LRS permits tracking of the training no matter if the user takes the course on the LMS as an employee, or on a website for business partners… it’s integrated and seamless from a reporting perspective.
The managed system approach usually puts the LRS at the center of a whole set of systems all talking together. The core system desired around and optimized for xAPI, that then lets you get best-of-breed tools to hook into it. Since you don’t have to be confined to just elearning courses in an LMS for tracking, you you’re tracking things that happen in the real world, and you’re able to go out and do all sorts of things outside your LMS and that pretty well rocks.
One of Megan’s clients currently doesn’t have a strong LMS. In fact, their LMS is so “weak” within their organization that the L&D team is using a Wordpress site as a Content Management System from which to offer training – not a WordPress LMS, mind you. An internally hosted Wordpress site. They’re bringing on an LRS product that will be a hub for xAPI transactions from courses launched from the WordPress LMS. And as they bring on other xAPI conformant tools – right now we’re putting in a Curatr learning platform for a key customer group – all of that will feed back into the LRS.
The Sidecare LRS is a nice happy medium to get started.
Out of the box, you can expect data that’s a lot like SCORM, plus individual page views, question answers and a few other things you couldn’t get with SCORM. dominKnow and Lectora support a wider variety of statements based on actions and triggers. All of these tools you can add custom JavaScript to action triggers and send statements to the LRS.
ADD SLIDE: For example, our project with University of North Carolina – see us at DemoFest – where we have custom JS added to all sorts of actions in a Storyline course – question sets individually and totals, downloading resources, entering text on screen.
This is my super-un-scientific way of testing for xAPI conformance. If I get this when I search an LMS vendor’s site, I then do also search Experience API, Tin Can API and then, just to be safe, SCORM. If I come up blank, I make the call that this is not an xAPI conformant or ready LMS
And it’s going to take longer than you hoped it would
Wikipedia: Dr Bruce Tuckman published his Forming Storming Norming Performing model in 1965. He added a fifth stage, Adjourning, in the 1970s. The Forming Storming Norming Performing theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behaviour (US spelling: behavior).
Ask your LMS provider – it’s entirely possible that they’re planning on implementing LRS support within the year. In this case, you have a few options. You can sit and wait, and you could offer to beta test. (Megan) is a huge fan of being a part of your vendors’ beta testing process – there’s a lot of bonus points you can gain with your vendors and you can call in some chips.
In the meantime, you can get a “sidecar” LRS for all your xAPI projects, something that you’re planning to discard once your LMS capability comes online. It’s a nice hedge against the promises of integration for the future that your LMS vendor makes. You’ll have two sets of reports in the meantime and you may need to export your xAPI “completions” to your LMS in case you need a single point of truth and reporting. But it’s not the worst thing in the world.
You’ll want to make sure that you’re careful to keep your login information – your actor definitions – consistent between the two systems so that your hair doesn’t fall out trying to match up your data.