As a UX content designer, I’m excited about xAPI because it can provide a level of feedback about content that we’ve never had before. The challenge for me is finding practical information about how to design learning to create xAPI output, with little to no coding.
Is xAPI the Right Tool to Track Informal Learning?
Learning Solutions 2020: I was scheduled to present this case study on April 1, 2020, but the conference was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic. Here’s the summary:
What problem does this session address?
Growth can be exciting! At the same time, it can be difficult to scale up your ways of working to accommodate more people. At Infotech, seasoned employees remember when there wasn’t any formal training program. Senior employees mentored new hires one-on-one. Management encouraged employees to pursue new knowledge and skills individually.
This individual approach to learning worked well when the company was smaller. Now, the challenge is to empower employees to pursue their interests using tools and strategies that make it easy for them to catalog information and share ideas with their coworkers.
How does this session address the problem?
In this case study session, find out how an organization can model informal learning and knowledge sharing as it builds a process and structure for its employees to do the same. You’ll explore the xAPI tool and web dashboard the team created for employees to catalog their informal learning. You’ll learn about the challenges the team uncovered – both with technology and with employee buy-in for this new concept.
You’ll explore other tools and processes that empower individuals to organize their learning and share it with coworkers – like Slack’s Reacji Channeler app, Zapier, and Google sheets. You’ll investigate the importance of providing enough process and structure to encourage employees to use the tools, while at the same time preserving transparency so that they’ll feel comfortable using them.
Finally, you’ll consider whether xAPI is the best tool to track informal learning.
In this session, you will learn…
⚬ How organizations can use an opt-in strategy to track employee learning with xAPI.
⚬ How to be transparent when implementing tools that amplify informal learning, as a way to promote employee buy-in.
⚬ What challenges the team discovered when testing tools for informal learning.
⚬ Why providing just enough process and structure around your learning tools will empower employees to own their knowledge sharing.
⚬ When xAPI may be the right tool for informal, social learning, and when it may not.
A Home-Grown App for Informal Learning
Infotech Hackathon 2018: I captained the Impact OnLearning Hackathon team.
Infotech shows its commitment to innovation and continuous learning throughout the year. But, the annual Hackathon is the largest of the events they organize for my colleagues and I. I led a team of my colleagues as we explored ways to use xAPI and Google Analytics to make learning useful. Learn more.
Tying Learning to Performance
xAPI Learning Cohort – Fall 2016: Learn more.
Experience Pathways – xAPI and Metrics
DevLearn DemoFest 2015: It was a pleasure to present with Ali Shahrazad, Saltbox CMO and Co-Founder. I provided an xAPI published CRM software eLearning, developed in Storyline, and provided my instructional design feedback to improve the user experience.
Saltbox took the xAPI test data from my course and created a visual representation of the path that learners take through the eLearning.
Update: Although Saltbox is no longer in business, the Web Archive includes a copy of the blog post that Ali wrote about our DevLearn demo. Can’t find that blog post? Try this backup.
@SaraSWalters 