xAPI Recipes

What is an xAPI Recipe?

A Recipe is a standard way of expressing a particular type of experience. It provides a common language and prevents the use of different words saying the same thing. For example, suppose that YouTube and Vimeo both wanted to express that a person interacted with a video. Each one might talk about the same activities in very different ways:

Vimeo might say: Tim Martin watched “How to make Grilled Cheese” Tim Martin played the first 31 seconds of “How to Make Grilled Cheese” Tim Martin paused “How to Make Grilled Cheese” at 31 seconds Tim Martin exited “How to make Grilled Cheese”

YouTube might say: Tim Martin launched “How to Make Grilled Cheese” Tim Martin watched from 0s to 31s of “How to Make Grilled Cheese” Tim Martin paused “How to Make Grilled Cheese” at 31s Tim Martin closed “How to Make Grilled Cheese”

Same experiences, different statements. This makes reporting difficult. But, If both these systems used the video Recipe, their statements would look the same. Recipes allow different systems to talk about things people do using the same words.

Recipes tell you how.

Basically, a Recipe specifies which verbs and activity types and extensions and the like to use and how to use them for a given experience. No need to start from scratch. To read about the deep details about how a Recipe works, go here.

Recipes promote consistency.

For xAPI to succeed we need to create consistency for how statements are expressed. It makes life easier for authors of statements because they don’t have to blaze a trail and simplifies reporting for LRSs because they can expect more consistency of expression. Like the universal symbol for “Stop,” recipes create consistency.

Any experience can have a Recipe…and some do.

Anything that is going to be expressed through xAPI by more than one system should have a Recipe. Right now, Recipes will be small and few. They will grow through subsequent versions as communities of practices become more prevalent.

We’ve compiled a summary of available recipes and expect this list to grow and grow!

Recipes are community driven. We need you.

Recipes aren’t going to happen independently—they need input from the community. Add requests for subsequent Recipes, comment on existing ones, and share Recipes you are working on.

Anyone can create a Recipe.

When you are ready to take the next step and create a Recipe, it’s easy to get started on the xAPI Registry, where the Recipes live.

If you want to read more about Recipes and why they are important, take a look at the resources below.

Recipe Resources:

• Introductory Blog
• Deep Dive Blog
• Recipes Documentation (GitHub)
• Available Recipes (in Registry)

We can help you find a suitable recipe or create one if it doesn’t exist.