We spend a good amount of time working with software companies who build learning technology. The main question in these conversations is “Why should we adopt?” There are many reasons, some more theoretical than practical today (but who doesn’t love the ideal present?!)
To break this down a bit, into reality, I wrote this article for the eLearning Industry to discuss what we have seen in practice over the last year. The pragmatic reasons that real vendors have chosen to adopt xAPI and what that adoption looks like today.
Adopting xAPI isn’t a “one and done” thing, though. This is where we can offer the most help to software companies. The first step into the world is to collect data about something, the next step is looking at what you’re collecting and doing better on the next round. xAPI makes it possible to collect data that is valuable enough to improve the tool itself, by examining the data. Yay, data-driven design! It’s also important to note on the development side that there will be versions of the spec after 1.0. Those will (at the very least) need to be kept up with.
If you’re considering adopting, let’s talk. We are happy to spend time talking about pros, cons, and best practices. Or just jump in and help.
Read the article on eLearning Industry here: http://elearningindustry.com/how-tin-can-is-making-tools-better-together
