xAPI publish available in Evolve Authoring

Introduction

xAPI enabled courses are in Evolve as of 4.4 (released 11/06/18).

If you aren’t familiar with xAPI here’s a description from https://xapi.com/overview/

"The Experience API (or xAPI) is a new specification for learning technology that makes it possible to collect data about the wide range of experiences a person has (online and offline). This API captures data in a consistent format about a person or group’s activities from many technologies. Very different systems are able to securely communicate by capturing and sharing this stream of activities using xAPI’s simple vocabulary.

The freedoms of the Experience API

  • Statement freedom: the structure of “statements” using nouns, verbs and objects lets you record almost any activity. Think: “I did this.”
  • History freedom: the Experience API allows LRSs to talk to each other. LRSs can share data and transcripts with one another, and your experiences can follow you from one LRS (or organization) to another. Learners can even have their own “personal data lockers” with their personal learning information inside them.
  • Device freedom: any enabled device can send Experience API statements (mobile phones, simulations, games, a CPR dummy, the list goes on). A constant network connection isn’t necessary — occasional connectivity is fine.
  • Workflow freedom: tracking learning events doesn’t have to start or end in an LMS, it can start wherever the learner is and on whatever device they choose to use. Your content isn’t tied to an LMS. "

Publishing xAPI enabled courses in Evolve

  1. Navigate to the course you wish to publish
  2. Click Publish
  3. Select How Your Course Should Send Course Statement
  4. If you intend to use a Learning Record Store toggle “Use External LRS End Point?”. If not skip to 6.
  5. Add your LRS keys and endpoint details.
  6. Publish your course.

Please note:

xAPI publish is still in BETA

This means that xAPI may not work as intended on your LMS. If you are experiencing issues please contact support with the following information:

  • The xAPI issue in as much detail as possible
  • The name of the LMS
  • A link to the course in your Evolve
  • A test account on your LMS where we can troubleshoot your course

We are also interested in hearing your feedback on how xAPI has been implemented in Evolve. Information on how you are using xAPI in your organisation and example use cases will allow us to improve this feature and compatibility with your LMS/LRS.

Let us know here or via support.

Thank you.

Hi Matt, I’m looking at using an external LRS to record xAPI data. Do you have any guides that covers how this process works? Specifically, things like adding and linking to the cryptojs.js and xapiwrapper.js files. Also, where do you place the xAPI statements? etc.

Many thanks
David

Hi David, just noticed this not sure if this is of interest or if it is to others, I received an answer to what is being published through the xAPI publish process in October 2019 support said:

"I have checked with a developer on this. Evolve only sends a statement saying the component has been interacted with/answered. There is currently no option to build your own xapi statements to include data such as the choice example. "

Choice was the ability of the xAPI course to pass the actual answer given to a compatible LMS/LRS

I am not sure if the advice has changed yet. Would be really useful to be able to record this information as well as other xAPI recipes.

Regards,
Nick

Hi All,
One more voice now just starting to explore the xAPI publishing features of Evolve. Like @nick above, the xAPI data captured in my SCORMCloud LRS from an Evolve course is limited only to statements like:

[user]+[interacted with]+[component]

and doesn’t capture any of the actual data input by the learner into the content.

Is this expected behavior according to the beta status of xAPI publishing at this point? Has there been any movement in the last three years to implement the Choice features of xAPI as Nick suggests above?

We were wondering if it was us – our next step would be to look at our Course Attainment settings and possibly set up Logic variables to capture each learner input in the hopes of capturing that data in the xAPI record.

Please advise us about how to proceed going forward.
Thanks,
Ted

@tedcurran To be useful, you’d need to have the capacity to enter xAPI statements throughout the course, based on the interactions you want to capture. These would be passed to an LRS and the statements would dictate how the information is recorded and to what level of detail. I think the Evolve Beta provides only a summary statement for the course. (Intellum, check me on this) If your LMS doesn’t support the standards, you can use SCORMcloud for testing, which includes a built in LRS to learn the basics. The overview article and other resources are great for picking up the ins and outs of building statements and endpoints.

1 Like

Thanks Martin,
Yes I’m testing in SCORMCloud currently just to see what kind of data we get out of the content so I can make the case internally for investing in a dedicated LRS and analytics solution.
Thanks for the pointer – I’ll see if I can find that those docs you refer to. I wonder if @hbailey can point me in the right direction?
Thanks all,
Ted