eLearning Rockstars Stage - Getting Started with xAPI in Rapid Authoring Tools

xAPI is the darling of the eLearning industry these days. It’s a spectacular option for gaining deep insights into learner actions—or opening up the learning environment entirely. Exciting stuff indeed! Getting excited is easy; getting started is another story.

Bill Milstid, eLearning Brothers developer, took the stage at DevLearn 2018 to answer these burning questions:

• "How do you get started with xAPI?"
• "How can you use the rapid authoring tools you’re already familiar with to tap into the reporting potential of xAPI?"
• "How do the big three rapid authoring tools handle xAPI?"

He started with a very brief xAPI introduction.

xAPI is a learning spec—just like SCORM—that uses JSON (javascript object notation) to send simple statements about each action a learner takes to an LRS. Essentially, it's a format for Javascript to tell your LRS stuff in the following "statement" format:

Actor    Verb    Object

Or...

Someone Did Something

Got it? In the presentation, Bill shared some visual examples of xAPI reports to help attendees visualize what you can track with xAPI and how the results will appear. Watch the video to check that out.

After that, Bill dove into each tool: how Storyline, Captivate, and Lectora work with out-of-the-box statements; how to send custom statements with each tool; and constructing a launch path and testing xAPI statements.

Here is a bare-bones outline of how to publish an xAPI course in each tool:

In Storyline

1. Press Publish
2. Select LMS at the left sidebar
3. In the reporting dropdown, select Tin Can API

In Captivate

1. Simply select the xAPI reporting option at publish

In Lectora

1. Select Publish to xAPI
2. Enter your Activity ID

Of course, there's a bit more to it than that! Watch the video below to get all of Bill's tips.

[embed]https://youtu.be/O4EpIFUwwfc[/embed]

View the slides from Bill's presentation here.

Don't forget, our new Course Starter eLearning templates for Lectora, Captivate, and Storyline all feature xAPI integration, so it's super easy for you to start using xAPI statements to track and analyze your learners' progress!

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