I'm building the ultimate #xAPI cheatsheet for my fellow #InstructionalDesign colleagues. They won't have to do any of the legwork that I did to figure this stuff out. They'll just have to look at how this resource is built, steal everything, and bake real-time experience analytics into any of their projects.
I've been very clear about my ulterior motives in making xAPI a core capability. Once you have performance data, then you have no choice but address areas of poor performance.
There's a dark side to this sort of data collection, and it's the kind of unethical data hoarding that we all abhor. I could use this specification to babysit every learner and flog them if they don't meet an arbitrary standard, but I'd rather shift the onus to the person who is building the training.
If an anonymized audience is struggling to complete the content, that isn't their fault. It's 100% the fault of the instructional designer.
Done right, #xAPI shows them how to fix what's broken.
My biggest challenge hasn't been the technical details. It's been shifting the culture.
The #InstructionalDesign community, oddly, doesn't handle failure very well. I personally understand that it's the best teacher there is, but other IDs are wrapped in these seemingly impervious cloaks of hubris that makes them extremely sensitive to their failings.
This data exposes what they missed, and they've been extremely resistant as a result. I'm trying to change all that, but the rudder is small.
