xAPI Design is ADL’s Next Big Thing

For the last year, almost a hundred people internationally have contributed to the specification for Experience API™. Lots of people talked about it, but these guys put it into being.

I care about Experience API as a lightweight but heavy-duty technology that helps people respond to some of the low-hanging fruit that our greater community hasn’t picked very easily in the last few years: specifically how we deal with performance support, mobile experiences, games and simulations and responsive environments like augmented reality and sensors.

As proud as I am about what a small part of our community has accomplished in the last year, for too many people, reading the specification itself is not as helpful as having some practical experience using it and designing with it. The mission of the ADL Technical Team is to catalyze innovations in learning technology.

So, let me share with you how we’re going to back that idea up:

First, starting July 15, we’re having a virtual informational meeting for a whole new program called xAPI-Design. It is a team-based, DIY approach to learning what you can do with Experience API, and how you can design with it in mind. On July 29, we’ll begin a nine-week cohort where you come with your team, design a response to a business need with the Experience API (that hopefully isn’t a page-turner) and the ADL Technical Team will help you with how to use the API to do just that. You can come with your whole team or you can come on your own and join a team of designers, developers and product managers.

>> Register for the xAPI-Design Informational Meeting on July 15

Second, when the first xAPI-Design cohort is done, we’ll make any prototypes you’re willing to share with the community available and showcase them at the xAPI PlugFest in Alexandria, VA on 16-17 October. We’ll be limited to around 60 people. xAPI PlugFest will be geared for designers, developers, vendors and stakeholders. This will be a chance for people to meet up, plug-and-play as well as get more in-depth information and discussions around what you can do with Experience API, and how the specification is going to progress.

One more thing: if for any reason you can’t get in on either the xAPI-Design cohort in July or the xAPI PlugFest in October, don’t fret. We intend to have several different xAPI-Design groups over the next year and xAPI PlugFests in different locations (maybe even around the globe).

In the past year, you may have felt as if working with Experience API was something beyond your skill or reach. We at ADL are going to make it as easy as possible for you to learn with others, giving you the opportunity to work with people you want to work with, supported by our own technical team and, likely, the experts in the community who all pitched in to create the API, all to help you learn how to design and create something with xAPI that will enhance your capability to connect your design to how your audience performs on the job for your particular audience or organization.

This is the hard fun you’ve been waiting for.