There's been so much hot xAPI talk lately!
We came across this podcast from GoodPractice that breaks is down thusly: xAPI is a powerful story telling tool that you should be using to drive key performance indicators (KPI) at your company.
We took it upon ourselves to share some notes with you, but you should probably listen to it as well when you get a chance - our friends from Down Under are clearly passionate about L&D tools!
[1:06] - The eXperience API protocol allows us to collect information about user experiences in an event driven fashion. Examples: "Bob clicked the start button" / "Jane played the intro video to completion"
Oh, but that's just the tip of the iceberg!
[2:20] - Think about those experience statements. Put them together and they tell the story of a user's learning experience. They tell the story of the effectiveness of a piece of learning material. No longer do we have technical data points - we have a way to humanize the process, communicate feedback and results to others, and enable us to take action.
[3:15] - The legacy means of tracking learning data, SCORM, is 'state driven' - meaning that it is limited in the kind of information it can communicate. With xAPI, we can add a ton of meta-data (data about the data) to give as much information as we want to the key players.
In advertising, tools from Google and Facebook allow marketers to target consumers depending on their age, location, and what kind of computer they're using.
In L&D, you can use xAPI to gain automatic insights. Let's say you send out an email reminder to complete a training module. How quickly did learners react to that email and take action? With xAPI, you can tie those events together.
[6:30] - Seriously, why NOT collect as much information as you can? Even if you're not sure how you might use such metadata, the more you collect now gives you more to work with later when you might be ready to take a look at historical data. Storage is cheap, yo.
[15:30] - WARNING: Truth bomb incoming! At the end of the day, organizations are about performance improvement; the role of instructional designers is to focus on improving performance. Providing learning experiences is just the primary way we do that.
[17:00] - Here's the deal. When designing learning experiences and building out the various actions and measurable checkpoints, they should directly reflect the organization's KPIs.
[21:25] - A company that goes a year without changing is going to fail. It's no different for L&D. KPIs should be adjusted, learning materials should be developed, etc.
[22:10] - L&D needs to escape the cubicle! Want to prove yourself to leadership and get enough budget to do innovative things to have the most impact? Be proactive. Discover the issues that stand in the way of meeting company goals.
Damn, seriously... These guys are spitting hot truth at this point.
[24:20] - Companies like Starbucks and Google are leading organizations because of what they do with the knowledge they collect. It's not just for the big players - anyone can and should do this.
[25:00] - All that stuff they just hammered home in the last few points? That's what separates "an L&D department" from "a good L&D department."
There you have it. We came in talking xAPI, and walked out with a purpose. Whatcha gonna do about it???
To listen to the full podcast, check it out here.
