How xAPI can help collect data of the learning experience

1. How xAPI Can Boost eLearning Outcomes
Have you ever been in meetings when suddenly someone says something you don’t
understand? You start to wonder. Can I figure it out if I just listen? Should I just keep quiet
until the topic changes? Should I ask sooner rather than later? This happened to me recently
when someone said API. What is API in elearning?
API is Application Programming Interface, a piece of software that allows systems to talk to
each other. In elearning, experience API (xAPI) collects learning experience data across
multiple devices and activities and stores it in the ‘someone did something’ format in a
Learning Resource Store (LRS).
A step beyond LMS
Not that long ago e-learning was done on a computer desktop and everything was stored in
the Learning Management System (LMS) via SCORM. This data, while of high quality and
importance, was very limited in scope of measuring a learner’s progression. This SCORM
and the LMS would record fairly simple data, crucial, but simple.
An LMS is still valid and can record numbers of learners, their attempts at the course, their
attempts at questions, the completion and also provides an automated assessment process.
It was, and remains, a viable management system for learning that can be pushed to
individuals or groups as part of their overall learning progression. However, LMS learning
remains very formal, exclusivelyundertaken on a desktop, and limited to the learning
experience pushed and provided by an institution.
Now with xAPI, which is open sourced and free, there are opportunities to track learning
beyond the desktop whether it is a variety of tools such as ebooks, tablets or phones or
even activities such as playing, meetings, reading or outdoor excursions. All of those
experiences are collected and stored as data in an LRS that is quantifiable and usable.

2. But how do you use xAPI in your learning? I see it as a fishbone diagram as shown above.
The learner learns via a variety of media in different ways, different places and at different
times. Instead of just having an LMS as a means of measuring and evaluating learning
progression, an xAPI can collect the ways that we learn in real life and store the data in
one accessible place. The learner can interact with a variety of learning resources and, as
long as they are in some way trackable via web pages, emails and the internet, the xAPI can
get the data or the sources can be posted to the LRS.
For example if a student decides to go on a climate change march and invites their friends or
classmates via Slack, then that source, or activity provider, can be entered into the LRS.
Equally if they film the march and then upload it, that data can be entered into the LRS and
any classroom discussion afterwards about what was seen and experienced can be
entered as an activity provider into the LRS by their teacher. If the student reflects on that,
then any writing that is uploaded is seen as an activity provider by the LRS.
An LMS will capture a certain levelof data
aroundan individual’slearningwhereasan
LRS can capture so much more.The following
table shows how an LMSwill record two levels
of learning compared to the 11 statements
recordedby an LRS … thanks to an xAPI.
xAPI and Your Organisation

3. Whether you’re working in the education sector or the corporate world an xAPI can be
applied with or without an LMS, with or without a big budget and with or without a significant
IT department. An API will either ‘get’ activity provider information from a system or the
information will be ‘posted’ via an API to the LRS. However it arrives, the data is stored in
an LRS which can standalone or sit within an LMS. You now have a repository of
quantifiable data upon which you can measure the success of the learning progression of
the individual.
The foundation of the data, and the key point of difference from data acquired via an LMS, is
that the learner’s information is stored in the [actor] [verb] [object] format or as ‘learner
did something’. These are called statements and a simple example would be “Jenny
completed Sales Training 101”. Now we’re getting into the world of JSON formats and other
details which is better covered here. However for the moment be confident that the level of
sophistication in an LRS is so much better than the information you’re currently getting out of
an LMS.
Not only will you get more data, with an LRS you’ll discover how long your learners took
to learn, when, where, if they got stuck on a question and how long they took to
overcome it and so much more to improve their learning AND help improve the writing and
building of the course. After all if everyone is getting stuck on question 4 maybe the fault lies
with the question not the learner.
LMS and LRS: Bringing Them Together
To paraphrase and update Wikipedia’s definition, an LMS is a software application for the
administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, and delivery of a learning experience or
learning environment. It still has its uses and in the education sector an LMS remains pivotal in
the management of a student’s learning. Its particular strengths still lie with management,
assessment and plagiarism tools.
An LRS is the final resting place ofthe data
from not only the LMSbut all the other activity
providerssuch as socialmedia,downloaded
readings,meetingsand so much more.
Once the data has been brought together as activity reports then the evaluation of all this
information can begin.
Measuring and Evaluating xAPI Data
The evaluation of all the data, the activity reports, will depend on the organisation in which
you work and the sector it operates in. However, there are two basic options on how to
evaluate all this data. For meaningful insight into the learning experience you either
build an xAPI analytics dashboard or you buy one. Any solutions architect, developer,
tester or IT manager will take you through the pros and cons of this choice because
ultimately it will be dependent upon the culture and needs of your organisation, no matter if
it’s complex or simple.

4. IBM https://www.ibm.com/au-en/marketplace/yet-xapi-lrs/details
So in conclusion, an xAPI will funnel a large level of activity reports, or statements, and store
them in your LRS along with the results data from your LMS. This means you will have both
what the learner succeeded in doing and how, when, where and on what device they
succeeded. All of this is crucial information for you to improve your learning design and the
learner’s learning experience.