Are you a training manager? Keep hearing about xAPI and how you should do something but don't get all this technical mumbo jumbo? In this webinar, featuring never before see slides, Andrew Downes explained what xAPI is and how you can get started, without getting lost in the technical weeds. Here's the slides.

1. welcome
andrew.downes@watershedlrs.com
Andrew Downes
Learning and Interoperability Consultant

2. xAPI for Training
Managers:
A USB analogy

3. key
takeaways
xAPI is to learning technologies what USB is
to electronic devices.
xAPI enables you to build a blended
learning ecosystem using best-of-breed
products.
xAPI can even be useful when working with
products that have not implemented xAPI.

4. xAPI is to learning technologies
what USB is to electronic
devices
page
04
USB
USB is a technical specification
that makes it easier and cheaper
to connect electronic devices.
With USB, you normally need a
computer to connect devices to.
xAPI is a technical specification
that makes it easier and cheaper
to connect learning technologies.
With xAPI you need a Learning
Record Store (LRS).
xAPI

5. Why would you want to
connect learning
technologies?

6. Why connect
with USB?
page
06
To transfer data
For example: when you get a new laptop.
For devices with different functions to work
togetherFor example: your laptop and a printer.
To back up data
For example: in case your laptop breaks down.

7. Why connect
with xAPI?
page
07
To transfer learning records
For example: when you get a new learning platform.
For products with different functions to work
togetherFor example: your LMS and a social learning platform.
To back up learning records
For example: in case your LMS breaks down.

8. How can different learning
technologies work together?

9. How can different products
work together?
page
09
Best of breed
learning
ecosystem instead
of
one monolithic
system.
For example: an LMS for formal
training, a social platform for
informal learning and apps to
support mentoring and track event
attendance.
A tightly blended
learning
experience across
multiple platforms
and providers.
For example: promoting different
e-learning courses based on job
task observations or social
learning activity.
Centralized
learning and
performance
reporting
across the
complete
ecosystem.For example: evaluating the
impact of learning programs on job
performance and business metrics
in Watershed.

10. Do all learning technologies
fully implement xAPI?

11. Do all products
use these specifications?
page
011
USB
Not all devices implement USB
For example: Apple use their own
connections in many cases.
Some products implement USB
badly
For example: some uncertified
USB-C cables have damaged
phones and computers.
Not all learning technologies
implement xAPI. For example:
many LMSs have been slow to
adopt.
Some products implement xAPI
badly.
For example: 1. Data may be
incomplete or difficult to interpret.
2. You may not be able to get data
out.
xAPI
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/30/am
azon-clamps-down-dangerous-usb-c-cables

12. Is xAPI still useful if my
product doesn’t support it?

13. Is xAPI still useful if my product doesn’t support it?
Yes!
page
013
And once you have the connector, you
can connect the product to other xAPI
enabled learning technologies in future
as well!
You can use a
connector

14. Types of
connector
page
014
Product
specificConnectors exist for some
popular products or other
learning tech specifications.
Ask your
vendorYou can also ask your vendor to
implement xAPI themselves.
Multi-
connectorFor example: Zapier connects
hundreds of applications and
has an xAPI output.
Universal
connectorWatershed’s CSV import is
effectively a universal connector
for any data source.
!

15. How do I know if a product
implements xAPI badly?

16. How do I know if a product
implements xAPI badly?
Read the reviews! See the list of
recommended data sources at
help.watershedlrs.com
Ask not if the product is xAPI conformant,
but
what the product can do with xAPI
If the product implements xAPI badly,
consider
using a connector.

17. Once upon a time, a University got government funding to develop some e-
learning. An important funding criteria was that the content would conform to
SCORM so that all the Universities of the land could upload it to their LMS
and use with their students.
Seeing that Moodle LMS was ‘SCORM Conformant’, the university
developed the content as Moodle lessons. But when the day came to share
the content, the University realized the real meaning of ‘SCORM Conformant’
in this context: Moodle courses could include uploaded SCORM packages,
but Moodle lessons themselves could not be packaged and uploaded to
another LMS.
Fortunately, by this point all the funding money had been spent anyway,
so the project team moved on to the next project and lived happily ever after.
A (true) fairytale SCORM story…
The moral of the story: Conformance means different things to different pe

18. case studies

19. Conducting an A/B Test
Conducting an A/B
Test
and saving money

20. Content utilization
what’s working and who’s
engaged?

21. Comparing learning performance
with life-saving KPIs
* Not real data

22. Monitoring progress
towards pre-defined milestones

23. How do I get started?
Subscribe to our
blog!
andrew.downes@watershedlrs.com
Andrew Downes
Learning and Interoperability Consultant
watershedlrs.com/bl
og