Understanding Impact OLX For xAPI Beginners: Making Sense of the Final Week
July 9, 2018
Join the OLX here:
https://beta.curatr3.com/courses/understanding-impact-the-final-xapi-frontier/
Well, that’s it folks! The facilitated period of our ‘Understanding Impact: The Final xAPI Frontier’ has finally come to an end. [Don’t worry though, the course is open indefinitely for you to come back to at a later date!].
The last four weeks have been quite a journey [see what I did there!] and, this has been such an insightful learning experience for, not only all of you, but for me as well.
Over the last few weeks we’ve thrown a lot of information your way so, it’s completely understandable if some of you have gotten a little lost along the way! Let’s recap some of the learning points from the first three weeks of our #LearnxAPI OLX.
Key Learning Points – Recap
By now, you should have a reasonably clear idea of what we mean by the term ‘xAPI’ but, if you’re still having a little trouble defining it, let’s think back to the analogy introduced by our CEO, Ben Betts, who explains how xAPI statements represent a log of a users learning activity, enabling the learning to track their progress within a Learning Record Store [LRS].
Of course, the xAPI does more than just that – including, enabling a more interactive user experience and, facilitating a personalised learning experience whereby recommended learning content is displayed to each user based upon predetermined data concerning the learners interests, role, previous activity etc.
Similarly, the xAPI allows for ‘Personas’ which, in the context of Learning and Analytics, refers to detailed profiles, designed to reflect the goals, interests, educational background and specific skills of a learner.
When designing a course, Personas are important for the Instructional Designer who uses the details gathered to develop course material that is engaging and relevant to the end user.
As an organisation continues to grow, these are particularly crucial, enabling trainers to differentiate between learners and, analyse their data more efficiently.
The xAPI also enables the use of ‘Journeys’ as part of a users learning experience, allowing a trainer to set individual Waypoints for their learners.
Likening a Journey to a to-do list, a Waypoint is to be considered a task within that to-do list. The objective of setting a Journey is to specify complex patterns of user behaviour and, visualise those people who complete the Journey requirements.
The Final Frontier – Using xAPI
Moving into the final facilitated week of our OLX, we’ve been discussing the fundamentals of ‘using’ xAPI data.
You all now know how to use the data collated within the Learning Locker but now, it’s time to retrieve the data from the LRS and, use it within the world of external integrations. Here, you’ll be able to make use of Machine Learning in order to gather greater insight into your learning data.
We recognise that, sometimes, you might need to take to the data out of Learning Locker in a flattened format. In the first level, Ian Blackburn, Learning Locker Project Manager, is on hand to talk you through the CSV export feature of Learning Locker.
In a similar way, Ian will be demonstrating how to forward xAPI statements to other programmes or organisations within the LRS.
Finally, you will be introduced to the ‘Reach’ application in Learning Locker that uses statements to trigger follow-on actions, deliver personalised feedback and automate workflow.
The app, based around the concept of ‘Events Triggering Activities’, allows for the delivery of timely, personalised feedback throughout a learners participation in a course as well as, sending out training evaluations following a course or, notifying Line Managers of a learners progress.
What Can We Learn from Week 4?
Just as we have done in the previous weeks, our Learning Locker team have produced a list of ‘Key Learning’ points which round off our #LearnxAPI OLX nicely and, teach you everything you need to know about actually using the xAPI data you are collecting.
Key Learning: To understand that statement forwarding can be used to trigger actions or events in other systems.
Resource: Forwarding Statements
Key Learning: To recognise that retrieving more detailed and useful data from SCORM is significantly more difficult than making the decision to use xAPI.
Resource: xAPI Story
Key Learning: To understand how to export data from Learning Locker.
Resource: Exporting Your xAPI Statements
Key Learning: To learn how to use the GDPR app in Learning Locker to manage all your data requests.
Resource: Managing GDPR Requests
Key Learning: To learn about the Reach app and the way this can be used to automate your learning and evaluation processes.
Resource: Introducing Reach
Now, you should be well equipped to efficiently navigate your way around your LRS system, reaping the benefits of using the xAPI for your eLearning needs. The course will remain open for the foreseeable future so that you can refer back to any point in the #LearnxAPI journey should you get a little stuck.
If you’re a little late to the party, you can still enroll on our ‘Understanding Impact: The Final xAPI Frontier’ OLX and learn more about the xAPI and why your organisation should be using it.
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