Tin Can The Heart of eLearning

“I could stay young and chipper and
I’d lock it with a zipper, if I only had a heart.”
Tin Can
The Heart
of eLearning

www.tatainteractive.com
2
Tin Can
The Heart of eLearning
Table of Contents
What is Tin Can?
The Heart of Learning Design
Design Implications of the Tin Can API
• Truly Blended Solutions
• Curated Courses
• Leveraging 70:20:10
Learning Beyond the Classroom and Course Paradigm
• Analytics & Big data
• Fresh Content
• Intellectual Property
• Personal Data Lockers
Users of Tin Can
Examples
Conclusion
References

3
Tin Can
Tin Can, the Experience API, is the heart of eLearning design! The
technology can allow designers to create learning experiences that
are more organic, fluid and fun. The API or Application Programming
Interface has the potential to free the design of learning from constraints
of technology, context and a silo-mentality. Tin Can enabled eLearning
can converge diverse approaches, devices and contexts to deliver
transformative learning experiences - both for the learner and the sponsor
of learning.
Its capability to recognize and communicate learning - formal, informal,
social and collaborative - across platforms and devices as also offline
opens up immense possibilities for truly blended learning approaches that
can offer unshackled learning options to learners.
What is Tin Can?
The Tin Can API is a web service that allows for statements of experience
(typically learning experiences, but they could be anything) to be
delivered to and stored securely in a Learning Record Store (LRS). LRSs
communicate with other LRSs and also with LMSs. From a learning design
perspective, the promise of Tin Can lies in the fact that it brings within the
ambit of learning those learning experiences that are not tracked by an
LMS or any formal learning intervention. This feature alone can radically
alter the learning design landscape. Tin Can is community-driven and free
to implement.
Source: www.tincanapi.com
“With Tin Can, the latest Khan Academy video can become a
trackable learning event as soon as it is released.”

4
Tin Can
How Does it Work?
People learn from interactions with other people, content, and beyond.
These actions can happen anywhere and signal an event where learning
could occur. All of these can be recorded with the Tin Can API.
The Tin Can API recognizes and records learning experiences by sending
secure statements in the form of “Noun, verb, object” or “I did this” to a
Learning Record Store (LRS). The LRS, which is a repository, records them
and shares them with other LRSs or LMSs as the case maybe. An LRS can
be standalone or exist within an LMS. The statements can be sent by any
enabled device with occasional connectivity.
The Tin Can API is the next generation of SCORM. One major difference
between SCORM and Tin Can is that while SCORM sends each datum as
a single API call, Tin Can groups data into statements, so much more data
is sent to the LRS in one go. This means sending a much smaller number of
API calls. One reason for this is that SCORM reports statuses and Tin Can
tends to report events. For example, in SCORM we tell the LMS whether or
not the learner has passed at a given point in time, whereas in Tin Can, we
report the event of the learner passing.
Top LMS Trend for 2014
“2014 will see a range of initiatives to address the need
to quantify, track and share intdividual’s experiences in
both informal and formal learning.”
Source: 12 ELearning predictions for 2014. Edtech Europe.

5
Tin Can
Tin Can presents an opportunity to create systems and components that
comprehend a novel format for experiential data. The Tin Can API has also
been built to support a distributed architecture, where statement streams
can be propagated to many places, and driven by many sources. Hooking
into streams of information already being produced by major learning
based vendors and applications could offer some interesting mash ups
and programming possibilities. The Tin Can API can offer real value in
areas completely unrelated to e-learning.

6
Tin Can
The Heart of Learning Design
Tin Can has the potential of enabling designers to create and assemble
learning experiences that are more personal, interconnected and diverse.
The fact that one can track all kinds of learning - digital and otherwise - and
combine these in the design of learning experiences for institutions and
individuals, alters the paradigm of course design as we know it today. With
Tin Can, course design can truly and effectively blend online and offline
interventions. Also, context can be fluid, informal learning opportunities
can be harnessed and accounted for. Further, multiple devices, platforms
and delivery mechanisms can be used to deliver learning experiences that
don’t just mimic real-life but are from and of life.
We all know that some learning scenarios work well face to face while
others can be more effective in an online medium. So, blended solutions
bridging the gap between the offline and the online worlds are always
welcome with educators and learners alike. However, the Experience API,
takes this concept more than a few notches ahead. Designers can not
only blend crafted and formal learning experiences but also those that
are informal, intentional, accidental and non-formal. The conversation is
no longer about reusability of silos of content created for formal learning
interventions. It is about putting the power of the internet and the real world
in the hands of a learning designer. So, the course design can move from
Open Learning Resources, Academia, Peer-to-Peer learning, one-on-one
interactions with a colleague to work portfolios, community projects or
collaborations in MOOC hangouts. It makes redundant concerns that some
fields of study, like Law for instance, do not lend themselves to eLearning.
The learning can happen across media, formats, instructional models and
delivery mechanisms.
Here are some design implications of the Tin Can API.
Truly Blended Solutions
eLearning is often criticized for being a simulated learning experience that
is somewhat divorced from real life. It is about real-life situations but lacks
an immediacy that a learning experience with peers can bring to the table.
While blended solutions do bridge this gap, the range of activities they
could select from was limited to those that can be tracked by an LMS.
With Tin Can there are limitless possibilities in how a learning experience
that answers to stringent learning objectives can be stringed together. Since
Tin Can is able to track any learning anywhere including not just formal
face-to-face learning, but also informal and social learning, designers can
cherry pick the best quality resources wherever available.

7
Tin Can
A relevant TED Talk, a workshop, interviews, shooting a short film, a
simulation or a capstone assignment can all be included when designing
or putting together a learning experience. Tin Can will allow these learning
activities to be closely woven together, interlinked and tracked in one
place. The instruction, the application and the assessment of learning can
alternate between the online and the offline world to best meet a set of
objectives.
Added to this, educators can more easily put together learning experiences
that bring out the interlinkages between fields of study rather than create
silo-based learning. The fact that you can reflect the real world in your
learning will allow more scope for integrated curriculum design to create
holistic learning experiences.
Curated Courses
Courseware development has so far mostly been about creation of
content and its delivery. Tin Can enables the focus to move from creation
to curation and delivery. With an exponential increase in the volume of
information available online, content curation is gaining more and more
prominence. This means with Tin Can, designers can use open content
resources and other high quality, free online resources to create courses
and instruct learners. Educators and designers can use open content
initiatives, creative commons, Udacicty, Coursera, EdX, Wikieducator and
multiple other resources to put together content for their courses. This will
give the learners access to a variety of learning resources and formats
while in turn bringing down the costs of content creation in custom learning
courses.
I don’t have a resume!
Check my Personal Data Locker, please!

8
Tin Can
Leveraging 70:20:10
We are all learning, all the time. While talking to our peers, collaborating
on projects, discussing with colleagues and sharing ideas. Add to that the
fact that we are now connected all the time. And information is constantly
streaming to us. A TED Talk, a Khan’s academy lesson, an insightful
discussion, a game, a post shared and discussed on a social media site –
informal learning is happening 24x7.
McCall, Lombardo and Eichinger’s survey of high-performing managers
revealed that:
“Lessons learned by successful and effective managers are roughly:
• 70% from tough jobs
• 20% from people (mostly the boss)
• 10% from courses and reading”
Tin Can will can enable organizations to tap into this informal learning to
extend learning beyond the classroom and course paradigm.
Analytics and Big Data
In the e-learning context, big data refers to the data that is produced by
learners while interacting with the learning content. LMSs, CMSs and
other media, including social networks collect this data. The LRS will track
data beyond the LMSs. This can allow us to create truly adaptive and
personalized learning experiences.
Staying Current
Content within a course can stay fresh and current as educators and
designers can include a piece of content, a workshop or a recent Ted
talk in an instructional module as soon as it is available. With SCORM,
datedness of content has always been an issue. With Tin Can, educators
can update the course curriculum based on recent developments and
trends and learners can stay up-to-date.
Intellectual Property
Courseware development for universities faces significant constraints
on account of copyright issues when it comes to sharing or embedding
content within a course, which is anyways available online. This includes

9
Tin Can
articles, websites, YouTube links, etc. This content need not be embedded
within a course. Learners can be pointed to links and other resources and
while they view the content, the experience can be tracked and reported
back by the LRS as a learning event.
Personal Data Lockers
The ownership of learning will shift from institutions and organizations to
the learner. The recorded statements of learning are in the name of the
learner. Regardless of the context, the learning experience is stored as part
of the learners experience. Learners can even have their own “personal
data lockers” with their learning information. Employees might very well
route possible employers and institutions to their personal data lockers to
assess their learning records. The learners can take their data with them
across institutions and organizations.
Who is Using Tin Can
In spite of the stated potential of the API, the adoption rates are not as
high as expected. People are still more comfortable with SCORM. It’s been
around for a long time, they know it and have been using it. The stated
benefits of Tin Can are not yet evident to many and most people do not
know what it can do for them or how. There is also a perception that it is
disruptive and this causes a resistance as people are not sure how it can
fit in with their existing systems.
However, there is a group of pioneering companies and programmers who
are using the API in interesting ways. These and other applications can
also be incorporated in eLearning courses to track and share different
kinds of learning experiences.
Examples
• Tappestry a mobile app allows “users to enter Threads of information
that they have learned” and record them into a Tin Can LRS.
• Tin Can bookmarklet puts an “I Learned This” button in the browser
toolbar for recording the relevant learning events while browsing the
web.
• Book Scanner app (Android) can scan the barcode on a book.
• Articulate’s Storyline and Presenter products are Tin Can-enabled.

10
Tin Can
• Lectora Version 11 and CourseMill LMS is slated to support the Tin
Can API.
• Roleplay’s scenario-based learning activities can now make Tin Can
statements that can be sent to one or more Learning Record Stores.
• Exam Builder has integrated the Tin Can API with their online test
creation application, Exam Builder. This application can issue Tin Can
statements to one or more Learning Record Stores.
• Blackboard is adding Tin Can support to its Learn platform so users
can import, launch and report on Tin Can content.
• Docebo Cloud supports the Tin Can API. Their Cloud LMS is able to
receive Tin Can statements through its built-in LRS, but users can also
upload their own Tin Can packages inside the LMS, and use them.
Go to http://tincanapi.com/adopters/ for more information in the gaming,
simulations, social learning, mobile apps, custom development and Web
Apps segments.
Conclusion
The API has the potential to transform the design of learning. However, this
will require not just new technologies but also a new mindset. Learning
professionals and the industry will need to work collaboratively to help
evolve this technology. Learning designers can take the lead by designing
and creating solutions that exploit the potential of this new technology for
the benefit of the learner, while simultaneously educating the clients about
what the API can do for them.
Reference
www.tincanapi.com

Tin Can The Heart of eLearning

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (13)

Similar to Tin Can The Heart of eLearning

Similar to Tin Can The Heart of eLearning (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Tin Can The Heart of eLearning