Introductory xAPI Camp DevLearn 2018 presentation by Megan Bowe

1. xAPI Camp
DevLearn 2018
October 23, 2018

2. How xAPI Camp Works
• Conversation Encouraged
• Structured and Emergent
• “Yes-And”
• The Law of Two Feet

3. Conversation
Encouraged
Everyone here has something to learn.
Everyone here knows something that helps.

4. Structured &
Emergent
Our speakers are conversation starters.
Everyone here has a reason to be here.
Ask questions. Share ideas.
This is what shapes our day.

5. Yes, and…
This learning experience is improvisation.
Key to improvising success? Avoiding negation.
Avoid saying “can’t,” “won’t” and “don’t.”
Consider “what if?”

6. The Law of
Two Feet
You are a grown-up.
You can do whatever you want.
If you need to be somewhere else,
let your feet take you there.

7. What exactly is xAPI?

8. The Experience API, or xAPI, is a
common way of sharing information
about our experiences, using data.

9. The “x” in xAPI is for experience.

10. Data describing our experiences
can come from different sources.

12. The Experience API (xAPI)
• Can be used to to describe a wide variety of experiences
• Moves us beyond simple web-based, didactic models
• Promotes adaptive design and development practices
• Accelerates integrations with other systems (and practices)
• Encourages transparency in data capture and use

13. How do you use xAPI?
• How can I inform better business decisions?
• How do I avoid locking us into a solution?
• How can I make investments in learning development last longer and
more future-proof?
• How can I make sure what I evaluate today is useful in the future?
• How will I connect a learner’s activities across multiple applications?

14. How Does Experience API Work?
• People interact with “stuff”
(i.e. content, apps, business systems, etc.)
• These interactions are observed and described in statements.
• The “stuff” sends the statements to a Learning Record Store.

15. What is a Learning Record Store, or LRS?
• It’s an application that manages activity statements - the data
• LRSs can be software (even hardware) that stands on its own.
• LRSs can be a function of other things:
data appliances, enterprise applications, LMSs

16. LMS vs. LRS
A Learning Record Store (LRS) addresses one capability of a typical
Learning Management System (LMS).
User Management Learning Records Scheduling
Course Management Statistics Grade Book
Tracking eLearning Content Storage Search
Assignments Sequencing Delivery
Preferences Reports Assessment

17. Someone Did Something
Activity Statements are “Observations”
Actor Verb Object
(To Someone) (Using Stuff) (With Some Result)

18. {
"actor": {
"mbox": "mailto:n3ed8rw7r39@adlnet.gov",
"name": "n3ed8rw7r39@adlnet.gov",
"objectType": "Agent"
},
"verb": {
"id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/passed",
"display": {
"en-US": "passed"
}
},
"object": {
"id": "http://z2.vc/xapi/activities/passed",
"objectType": "Activity",
"definition": {
"name": {
"en-US": "HTML5 data attribute prototype"
},
"description": {
"en-US": "Example generation of a passed activity using an HTML5 data attribute with unobtrusive js"
}
}
},
"id": "d3574611-8092-4616-bfdc-4f48933a0d42"
}

20. Who owns xAPI?

21. xAPI is an open source specification. It’s
*licensed so that anyone can use it and create
things based on it without needing permission or
paying anyone.
*licensed as Apache 2.0, if you’re curious

22. Who governs xAPI?

23. The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative is the part of the US
Department of Defense that has governed xAPI (the spec, its
conformance requirements and the conformance test for LRSs).

24. US Department of Defense Instruction (US DoDI 1322.26)
authorizing the use of xAPI:
https://adlnet.gov/dodi

25. Purpose: Develop a standard to provide an interoperable means to store
and retrieve learning experience data as required by modern, data-
intensive learning technologies.
Goal: Standardize the data model format and communication protocol
for learning experience data allowing vendors to build interoperable
solutions and to take advantage of many products that support the xAPI.

26. P9274.1 (xAPI) Work Group (http://sites.ieee.org/sagroups-9274-1-1/):
• P9274.1.1 (Base Spec)
• P9274.1.2 (Profile Spec)
• P9274.1.2.* (Individual Profiles)

27. What are other terms we might
hear?

28. An experience can be thought about
as a set of activities and interactions.

29. A profile is a set of rules that govern the
data requirements for xAPI statements in
specific experiences and specific contexts.

30. Interoperability is the expectation that what
works in one system will work for a set of other
systems by default with little configuration.

31. For xAPI, interoperability means that
data created in one system can be
understood and used by other systems.

32. A learning record provider is
anything which generates activity
statements and send them to an LRS.

33. The Schedule
Time Description Time Description
9:00am The State of xAPI in 2018
Aaron Silvers
1:15pm - 2:30pm Case Studies
Art Werkenthin & Duncan Welder, RISC
Patrick Selby, Lexis Nexis
Allie Tscheulin, Yet Analytics
10:00 - 10:30am Break 2:30 pm- 3:00pm Break
10:30 - 12:00pm Authoring & Analytics
John Blackmon, Trivantis
Paul Schneider, Dominknow
Nick Washburn, 5th Logic
3:00pm - 4:15pm Breakout Groups
12:00pm Lunch 4:15pm - 4:30pm Closing