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Experience API
Exploring the potential
Mark Berthelemy
June 2014

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Activity
Provider
Learning
Record Store
Statement
If we, the global learning community, choose to adopt the Experience API, we will be able to
release learning content and activities from the confines of the Learning Management System,
and track both their usage and their real-life impact.
The effects of this will be highly disruptive to the existing learning technology marketplace.
At its most basic, the Experience API allows one system (the
activity provider) to send a message (known as a statement)
to another system (the Learning Record Store) about
something a user has done.
This paper will:
1. Consider the benefits of the Experience API over existing
technologies
2. Explore some of the issues that you might need to face
when implementing the Experience API
3. Illustrate how to get started with the Experience API
Experience API - exploring the potential
This work by Wyver Solutions Ltd
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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Anything we wanted to track had to be built as part of the
LMS functionality, or needed a bespoke integration.
With the Experience API we now have a standard mechanism
to send and receive data between systems about what
someone has done.
Up until now, this process has mostly taken place inside the
organisation's Learning Management System:
The Experience API is a game-changer
Learning Management System
SCORM
package
LMS Reports
Pass / Fail
Complete / Incomplete
Assessment
engine
Question data
User
interactions
Forum post (etc) data
This is important, because now any - yes, any - system can,
using a standard connection method, send Experience API
statements.
This process of sending Experience API statements can
happen within the firewall, or across the internet, using a
secure connection.
Activity
Provider 2
Learning
Record Store
Statement
Activity
Provider 4
Activity
Provider 3
Activity
Provider 1
StatementStatement
Statement

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A straight-forward, but immediately valuable, implementation
of the Experience API is that it allows content providers to host
(and maintain) their own content.
For the content provider this brings benefits such as:
• Control of Intellectual Property Rights
• Able to use more sophisticated content management and
version control technologies than SCORM packages
• No need to create complex server setups to get around
SCORM's cross-domain issues
For the user of the content, this brings benefits such as:
• Simpler maintenance process
• Improved security
• Hosting is with the supplier
• Ability to use content whilst offline, and synchronizing when
online
An activity provider is any system where
someone does something. For example:
• Some learning content
• A customer relationship management
system
• A social networking system
Activity tracking can be done from anywhere

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The Activity Provider can be any sort of system where the user does something. Examples might include:
Activity Provider What has the user done? Example statement
Search engine Searched for a term Jane Smith searched for "How to sell products"
Social bookmark engine Bookmarked a website Jane Smith bookmarked http://www.businessballs.com/selling
Proxy server Launched a website
Jane Smith launched http://www.youtube.com/selling-masterclass/
how-to-sell-products
Intranet Viewed a document Jane Smith viewed sales-cycle.pdf on Intranet
Simulation Progressed to a harder level Jane Smith progressed to Level 2 in the Sales Simulation
Social networking platform Asked a question Jane Smith asked "What does Product ¢#42 do?"
Webinar Attended a webinar Jane Smith attended Product ¢#42 webinar
Blog Commented on a post Jane Smith commented on Product £#42 key features and benefits
Assessment engine Achieved a score Jane Smith achieved 87%
Customer Relationship
Management system
Sold a product Jane Smith sold Product #42
You can see how this might work for a typical learner in the diagram overleaf.
Any system can provide xAPI statements
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Learning Record
Store
Analytics
Webinar
Internal content
management
Public content
management
Community
of Practice
Learning
Management System
Recommendation
Engine
Search
Undertake assessment in
directed pathway
Record
activity
Send xAPI
statement
Record
activity
Ask question
in CoP
Send xAPI
statement
Record
activity
Analyse activity
View suggested
activities
Attend
webinar
Display suggested
activities
Record
activity
Send xAPI
statement
Send xAPI
statement
Send xAPI
statement
Record
activity
View internal
resources
View public
resources
Search for
resources
Send xAPI
statement
Record
activity
A day in the life of a learner

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You'll notice, at the bottom-right of the previous diagram, a
small box labelled "Analyse activity".
In just those two words we encapsulate the richness of the
Experience API.
The LRS will contain data from multiple systems. This will
include both inputs, eg. which resources have been used, and
outputs, eg. what the person is able to do.
With that data we should be able to
make links between the inputs and
the outputs (but see box - statistical
analysis), and thus make decisions
based on that analysis.
For example:
If, out of all those selling Product #42,
only those who attended the webinar
“Selling Product #42” have closed a
sale, then perhaps we should promote
that webinar more heavily to this group.
If the high-achievers are those who are
most active in the social network, then
perhaps we need to encourage more
people to use the social network.
If the most common search term used
by people new in role is: “claiming
expenses”, then perhaps we need
to highlight the intructions in the
induction process.
Lies & Statistics
The data might say that
there's a link between X
and Y. But this doesn't
mean that X has caused Y
or Y has caused X.
That can only be proved by
scientific testing.
Similarly, the data might
indicate a link, but that
might have just been
a blip. Without proper
statistical analysis you
can't be sure.
Anyone embarking down
the xAPI route will probably
need to engage people
who really understand data
and how to find meaning
from it.
Inputs
Outputs
Learning Record
Store
ActivityActivity
Activity
Capability
Capability
Capability
80% of people who sold Product
#42 have attended the webinar:
"Selling Product #42"
All the people who
are achieving their
targets have asked
questions in the
corporate social
network
The most common search term
used by people new in role is:
"claiming expenses"
Analytics
Activity analysis through Experience API

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Imagine an IT support system that recorded:
• Calls resolved
• Feedback scores from callers
• Who resolved the call
It could then pass a statement to the LRS that said
something like:
Joel -> resolved -> Password reset call -> in Support
Application -> scoring: 5 stars
If you then combine that with a system that provides training
or support for the help desk agents, which could send
statements like:
Joel -> read -> How to do a password reset
You can then start to do some analysis to show whether
people that are solving problems well are the same ones as
those reading the support materials.
You could even do some cause and effect tests, seeing what
the resolution scores are like, then releasing some support
materials and watching how the scores change.
Mapping performance to learning
Content
Management
System
Customer
Records
Management
system
Help desk
Learning
Activity
Management
system
Learning
Record
Store
Analytics
Engine
Statements

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As well as just sending messages to a Learning Record Store,
it’s also possible, using the Experience API, for the LRS to
act as a repository for any arbitrary data. This is just like the
Kindle app on your phone, which can store information about
bookmarks and annotations. When you then read via the Kindle
app on your tablet device this data gets picked up and used.
For those who know SCORM this is similar to suspend data,
but there is no size limit, and the data can be stored in a
structured way, rather than one long string of characters.
In fact, any Experience API data can be retrieved by the Activity
Provider. For example, you could store a set of high scores in
the LRS, and pull them into your activity when required.
Experience API data can also be shared across multiple
Learning Record Stores. For example, each department (or
even each individual) could have their own LRS, which then
feed into a central LRS for wider analysis.
Storing data across systems
Department
Learning
Record Store
Department
Learning
Record Store
Organisation
Learning
Record Store
Analytics
Engine
Activity
Provider
Activity
Provider

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Who owns this data?
For the data to be useful to your organisation you need to
really be pulling it in from operational systems as well as L&D
systems. How you divide up the responsibilities is up to you, but
Operations should certainly be involved in the decision-making.
But you’ll also need to consider the end-user’s perspective.
Much of the data may be very personal to them. Should it be
transportable to other systems when they move on?
What data should I collect?
One of the beauties (and difficulties) of the Experience API is
its flexibility. You can choose exactly what data you want to
collect and how it will be represented.
If the analysis is to make any sense at all, this means that you
will need to define each piece of data, so that it has a specific
meaning.
For example, if we use the verb "posted" in a statement, does
that mean the user published a blog post, or just replied in a
comment?
Similarly, we need to decide how we want to describe the
activities we're measuring, and how granular we need that
information to be.
For example, if we were dealing with a book, we might want
to just record the fact that someone had read the book. Or
we might want to break it down into chapters and record that
someone had read a chapter, which is part of a book.
What you do here will be driven by the amount of data being
collected and how rich, or how aggregated the reports should be.
Which people?
Your learning designers will need to understand not just
content, but also how the people will use that content in
conjunction with other activities.
Your data designers will need to build data structures that can
map to the learning design and, at the same time, produce
meaningful information.
Your data analysts will need to know how to use statistical
techniques to draw meaning from the data and to test which
effects are brought about by which changes.
Practical considerations

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Here's a generic (and highly simplified) step-by-step guide
to getting started with the Experience API.
You will need to adapt it to your particular context:
1. Identify what you need to find out, what questions you
want to answer
2. Identify where the data will be used, and by whom.
3. Identify what will happen when those questions have
been answered.
4. Identify what data you need support (1)
5. Map the data to the Experience API statement elements:
Actor, Verb, Activity, Context, Result
6. Identify where the data for (3) will come from - the activity
providers
7. Ensure that each activity provider can produce the
required xAPI statements
8. Implement a Learning Record Store to begin collecting
and reporting on the data
Starting out with the Experience API
What do you
want to know?
What will you
do with that
information?
What data will
provide that
information?
Map that data
to xAPI
statement
elements
Where will the
data come
from?
Ensure the
Activity
Providers can
deliver the
statements
Setup a suitable
LRS
Who needs the
information,
and where?
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We are a specialist consultancy, focussing on technologies
that can support better communication and learning within
public and private sector organisations.
Contact us for information on how we can help you, or read
our blog to get a feel for whether we will fit your particular
needs.
Author details
Mark Berthelemy
Web: www.wyversolutions.co.uk
Email: mberthelemy@wyversolutions.co.uk
Tel: 01773 881 227
Mobile: 07922 146 761
Twitter: @berthelemy
Want to know more?