Learners now move between laptops, phones, simulations, virtual classrooms and on-the-job tasks. That makes learning easier to reach and much harder to track, because most of it happens outside a course launched from an LMS.
The Experience API was developed for exactly that landscape.
An API, or application programming interface, is the part of a system that lets other software send it requests and receive responses. The Experience API (xAPI), also known as the Tin Can API, is a specification for recording learning activity wherever it happens and sending those records to a learning record store (LRS).
Version 1.0 was released in 2013 under the US Advanced Distributed Learning initiative, as a successor to the older SCORM standard.
Every xAPI record is a statement in the form actor, verb, object: someone did something to something. Nurse A passed the medication safety simulation is a simple example. In practice, statements also carry a result, such as a score or duration, context, such as the site or programme, and a timestamp.
SCORM was the original standard used by the eLearning industry to track learner activity and performance. It works well for what it was designed for: tracking a learner's progress through a course launched from an LMS. It cannot see anything that happens outside that course.
xAPI has a much broader scope. It can record activity across devices and platforms, offline as well as online, and from contexts such as simulations, social learning and job performance. The data is richer too, especially when it comes to the context around each activity.
SCORM is still widely used, and many organizations run both. A related specification, cmi5, defines how xAPI content is launched and tracked from an LMS, which closes part of the gap between the two. For a fuller comparison, see the differences between SCORM, Tin Can and xAPI.
The Tin Can API gathers data from several sources and consolidates it in a learning record store, which gives a more accurate reflection of a learner's journey.
It creates a more accurate picture of where learning happens and how a learner progresses, and gives insight into how a learning path can be improved.
Using xAPI-compatible tools allows you to deliver content, track activity and performance linked to that content, and use the information to recommend next steps for each learner or to measure whether a programme is working.
xAPI also supports mobile learning properly. Activity on a phone or tablet is recorded in the same way as activity on a desktop, so the learner's record stays consistent across devices.
Learners can pick up where they left off, see more relevant recommendations, and follow a learning path that takes into account learning that happens outside the LMS, or on the job.
Connecting eLearning data with job performance data is another major benefit. It makes it possible to assess the real impact of a programme, and to use performance data to see where each person needs support.
Deploying xAPI is less about technology than about decisions. In practice it comes down to four steps:
The modern learning path is complex and different for each person. xAPI gives learning teams a way to capture that complexity and turn it into data that improves programmes and the learner experience.
If you run Moodle or Totara and are weighing whether xAPI is worth it for your organization, our team can talk it through with you.