xAPI Key Features

AndyJohnsonxAPILeadProblemSolutionsLLCSETAcontractorsupportingtheADLInitiative

15 August 2016

Experience APITracklearnerdataoflearningexperiences,broadlydefined

Enablemachine-readablecommunication(interoperability),storage,andaccessofthedata

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Generic FeaturesNaturallanguageallowscomprehendibleandextensiblevocabulary

Contextderivablefromspecificfields,metadata,history

Frameworkgoesacrossplatformsandtechnologies

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xAPI = DMSAuthority History

RecoveryAccountability

Process

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Statement

BiggestadvantageofxAPI isthatitismachineinterchangeable

Statements,thetrackedinformationinxAPI,areactor/verb/activitytriples– “IDidThis”

Thebasic“unit”ofxAPI

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Learning Record StoreStorageforall“LearningRecords”ofxAPI

Authenticationandauthorization,butnotverydefined(onpurpose)inspec

Canadd/retrievebasedonHTTPrequestsandlimitedqueryingcapabilities

Nomentionof“lifecycle”ofdata

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LRS ConformanceLRSConformanceservesneedofinteroperableLRS

Canalso“police”LearningRecordsbyrejectingwithErrorCodes

MayapplytoxAPI profilesinthefuture

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ResourcesAlsoknownas“Endpoints”,seenas“Sub-APIs”,ResourceshaveendpointswhereHTTPmethodsareallowedandhavedefinedbehavior

Stateinformationofthelearner,activities,andregistrationsaremaintained

Aswellasalltheaforementionedtransfermechanisms

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CommunicationStatementsareJSON

OtherResourcesusegenericDocuments

CommunicationviaHTTPRequests

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DocumentsContainsanidaswellasname/valuepairs

NotrestrictedtoJSON

Haslastmodificationdate

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Focus on StatementsEachStatementhasspecificproperties–Actor/Verb/Object

Differentrequirementssurroundingusage–mandatory/optional,somecontrolledvocabulary

Extensibleinsomeplaces

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ActorCanbeanindividualorgroup,doesn’thavetobehuman

Identifiedwithoneoffourkindsofuniqueids

Groupscanbeidentifiedoranonymous

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VerbTheactionduringthelearningexperience

Tightlycoupledwithtracking,averbshouldalwaysbeveryspecifictoexactmeaning,notjusta“token”

“Display”propertyusedtoallowdifferentlanguagesofthesameverb

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ObjectCalledthis“Activity”earlier,butcanbeActor,Statement,etc.

Eventhetype“activity”isbroad– couldbeavirtualworldobject.“AndydroveJeep”.

ActivityDefinitionallowsforrichmetadatathatmoves/liveswiththatactivity

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Community DefinedThespecdoesn’tdefinewhattheActors,Verbs,orObjects(evenLearningActivities)are

LeavethisuptoCommunitiesofPracticeandprofiles

Offervocabularyguidanceandbestpractices

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ResultMeasuredOutcomesrelatedtotheStatement

Abit“SCORMish”inthatsomeresultsarebuilt-in

Extensionsareexpectedtobeusedtotrackallnon-traditionaldata

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ContextPortionofStatementthatallowscontextualinformationtobesupplied

Thingslikeinstructor,registration,language,etc.

AlsoextensibletoallowCoPs tocreatetheirown

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Context FeaturescontextActivities interestinginitallowscategorizationofactivitiestosymbolizestructure

Canalsobeusedasa“tag”indefiningatype–recommendedforprofiles

ContextstatementcanrefertoanyStatementthatmaybeusefultoreferenceascontext

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Timestamp/StoredAbasicflowandknowledgeofwhenStatementsoccurredisimportant

StoredhelpstodifferentiatetheLRSsbiasonactuallyplacingtheStatementintostorage

NothinginxAPI “breaks”duetoTimestampsbeingunordered

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AuthorityAnActorthatassertsaStatementisvalid.ExpectedthatmostLearningRecordProviderswoulduseone.

Usesauthenticationtovalidatea“trusted”relationship.

Different,butalsousefulis“signing”anIndividualStatement

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AttachmentsSometimesthe“evidence”ofaLearningRecordissomethingbeyondwords(orjustalotofwords)

Definesusage,contentType,hash,andfileURL,amongothers

Hasn’tseensignificantadoptionyet

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Questions?AndyJohnsonxAPILeadProblemSolutionsLLCSETAcontractorsupportingtheADLInitiative

15 August 2016