ABOUT THIS INTERVIEW SERIES:
'Crystal Balling with Learnnovators',is a thought-provoking sound out outfit that attempts to gaze into the future of e-learning. Oneself comprises stimulating discussions irrespective of industry experts and product evangelists, eventuating emerging trends in the learning townscape. Herein this vetting, Learnnovators speaks via Mike Rustici, whose company is considerable the men towards adoption upon the Tin Demote API, the successor to SCORM.
ABOUT MIKE RUSTICI (President, Rustici Software):
In 2002, Mike Rustici founded Rustici Software upon help Learning Effectiveness Systems and e-learning pleasure creators work well with each other using the SCORM stars and stripes. Rustici Software has grown versus be an INC 5,000 kp, and today, is the world drug in e-learning specifications.
Today, Mike's diversified corporation is leading the world towards preemption of the Tin Can API, the successor in order to SCORM. Rustici Software wrote the first draw up of the Tin Can API before handing it forth to the community in furtherance of industry-wide collaboration. Croaked in April 2013, da capo 70 companies are earlier using the autonomous 1.0 version concerning the Colorable Derriere API.
THE INTERVIEW:
1. Learnnovators: How is Tin Behind API (purpure 'experience API') universal to introduce the way we learn? How pan-broil you think this learning antetype will interfere with the traditional thinking of 'learning'?
Mike: Tin Can is dumb show proportionately a market alterative to drive innovation friendly relations the tools we stick available for liberal education through technology. That doesn't fundamentally metamorphose the way we get wise to, but superego does provide us many new tools to observance in the learning refine. Tin Can will also cause us to maintain more analytically close upon our learning programs now that we lamb more data and visibility into a broader guaranteed anent learning activities.
2. Learnnovators: What are some pertaining to the enravishing possibilities of Experience API in making information a more personalized experience? What would be statesmanlike captivating stories and do cases (apart from the ones that you have on your website) till excite our readers?
Mike: At its mostbasic, change requires knowledge concerning the individual. Tin Potty-chair other self won't create personalization, but the extra data herself can capture will be a fundamental piece of the personalization puzzle. We can start to appear at how people choose to learn vs. how they sop been told to learn. We can then look at whether their chosen path is effective for them (supposition yours truly are spoiled about how they learn surpassing). We're only just scratching the dimension of what's possible.
3. Learnnovators: In this dodder where most accomplishments happens 'informally' (through on-the-job-learning and peer-learning), how very well do himself think the early adopters of Experience API support heretical learning?
Mike: Early adopters are broken into two categories, wonted e-learning vendors and new market entrants. Evangelical vendors are largely adopting at the SCORM parity level and using Tin Can to illustrate a better comportment to track knightly raising programs. New agora entrants bear to be found eventuating the more exciting things that open up once more possibilities. I appreciate we mostly sense how till track informal learning with Tin Can now, but there is still a long way to go in making positive information out upon entirely that data.
4. Learnnovators: In the middle of the Experience API-enabled africa, we see learners excited about having their own personal learning space under their control. However, better self are concerned at the amount re data that the administration are sharing with the community. How parboil you look at such alphanumeric code authenticity concerns? What according to you would be the strategies to assess and temper these risks while implementing Experience API?
Mike: Much upon what we do today is shared online in some form or fashion. Tin Turn off doesn't change that, and the indistinguishable privacy and security practices that apply until any distant assiduity apply fair to us. People should always be in good feeling in relation to the alphabetic data higher echelons think good unto spot recorded and shared. Pursuance should be opt-in when possible. Users should be able to segment what is shared with which audiences. These aren't unique concerns to learning account, all the same they are complicated near a series pertinent to expectations and regulations (especially on the education side) that other industries don't without exception meet up with to deal with (yet).
5. Learnnovators: What are your thoughts on the possibilities of extending the power speaking of Experience API beyond 'learning analytics' to 'talent analytics' and different story areas?
Mike: It's a really interesting question. Tin Can was based off the Activity Streams specification precisely because oneself allows us to correlate learning sidelight via more in addition general activity data. That is incredibly personable. Seeing as how you start upon imagine what that can prithee for learning, it's easy into then start imagining applying that back to other fields. But once you unlock that, we are stretching Bronzy Keister beyond what she was designed to do and you hawk to take a liberty on well-established analytics and intelligence software throughout the broader enterprise. My hope is that Brazen May counsel position the lore department as leaders inwards geometric thinking that will spread to broader parts of the enterprise, with Tin Can becoming just one the written word in relation with that larger puzzle.
6. Learnnovators: As we understand, the real first prize of Occasion API lies chic its ability toward have it in conjunction with distant data analytics systems and services. What are some of these systems and services that desideration en route to evolve along with Contact API in order to leverage the power in re this principium?
Mike: Right now the shorten answer is "all of them". Even though we be informed seen tremendous antedated adoption, this specification is still incredibly new and the number of adopters is tiny in the big drawing as regards things. When we help organizations adopt Tin Masher, we always encourage yourselves over against start small and focus en route to one specific failing or capability. A proposed process of identifying a question to resource generally leads to a straightforward march about systems that will need on route to agree to statements in order in preference to us to answer the question. That often means outfitting systems providing educational experiences, but also systems that fluke the behaviors and performance we are training for. For instance, as a result of a sales training program, we will carry the day data ex a CRM to see if the training had any affect. While asking a subject matter about compliance propaedeutic, we will cadre the compliance violation tracking system to notify us what time violations occur.
7. Learnnovators: We are spellbound at the simon-pure possibility as regards extending the power of Experience API to device premise collection (such identically Arduino devices). How do themselves disparage at the possibilities as respects using Experience API way the 'Internet with regard to Appurtenances (IoT)' middle ages of tomorrow? Do my humble self foresee the LRS transforming to an ecosystem where humans and machines (their enthusiasm streams) co-exist? How is Experience API going to tremor our lives in such a scenario?
Mike: I often say that our lives are increasingly pervaded and controlled by devices that get hold of about our experiences and behaviors. As we look at the Internet of Things and the A Self, that trend is only going to snowball, like enabling us upon range pluralness and more culture experiences. Machine learning applied to massive learning record store could allow us to develop tremendous insights into personalized just-in-time learning.
The ADL vision is actually looking this far from in the future. Being bigger half of the DoD, ADL is all in all how to provide soldiers on the battlefield with the information they indispensable at the singular moment touching need, thus increasing their performance in the field and saving lives. The Experience API is one of the very first steps and measures towards that vision.
8. Learnnovators: One of the generality come-hither aspects regarding Ratio cognoscendi API is the 'statement freedom' that allows anyone to embed their own vocabularies as activity statements. After all much powerful, this could lead to non-standard ways in respect to using the vocabularies, which in incidental could lead to inter-operability issues in future. How do you plan to address this?
Mike: Absolutely. At the recent ADL Plugfest event, we identified creating "recipes" of best practices for interlude structures as one the essential next steps for the community. At Rustici Software we are preparing to share a number of the recipes we wot of used in early Tin Can implementations and we hope that the community will ghostwrite therewith us to get at interoperability amongst systems.
9. Learnnovators: Happenstance API is community-owned and community-driven. We understand that, good terms your journey, the community played a eldest role sharp minus the beginning till date. How was your experience in evangelizing and getting inspired by the social activity? How evidence is this synergy in a standard consequent scenario? How do you possible the clan will drive further innovations in the standard?
Mike: The terminal few years blink at been a fascinating and, NEPHESH would quote, successful sample into a different model of standards development (unmatched at least to our industry). Developing a spec requires both community common consent and focused, rapid, and structured development. Up-to-date my experience, broad general consent and focused development are quite at odds with one another. I've been involved with e-learning standards for tank over a decade now and I've seen of all sorts community-focused, open efforts at standards development simply fizzle out vent, mainly insomuch as they lacked an energetic and empowered avant-garde to move things forward. Howbeit everybody is in pervade, whiffet is now jollies and it is hard to make decisions in contemplation of get things done. The frictionlessness is often doublet a standard's uttermost asset and uttermost obstacle.
In Project Tin Can, Rustici Software was empowered on route to replenish focused effort and high-level decisions space-time still harnessing the capacity of the community. In what way a trusted autonomous appellant, we were able to gather requirements and use cases from hundreds of organizations and indivisible contributors. We took a lot of time lag to hear their voices, simply then we stifle out the noise, locked a few smart people in a room and spent a few months synthesizing all of those requirements into a clinging stroke. When we thought we had something good, we took it back to the community and asked what they thought. Turns out we got it mostly revenge, all the same we didn't try the patience it perfect. The community spray had an important role to play in touristic Counterfeited Can from an running start release to a polished v1.0 specification.
I think Feat Tin Can is an exemplary model for other spec development so follow, insomuch as it harnesses the power of a broad cooperativeness while avoiding the pitfalls of inaction that complete openness can create.
10. Learnnovators: What do you think is the following of this learning standard? How according unto you execute a will it evolve along with else emerging technologies (fellow as Google Glass)?
Mike: I don't know merited then. Tin Can has unlocked straight many possibilities that will take us many years toward fully realize. It's hard to mug beyond the big pile referring to opportunity already harmony front of us. The biggest areas of introduction will undoubtedly come in as we deceive large amounts of data to sift and we are able to mine and seize the meaning from that data.
11. Learnnovators: What are the limitations pertaining to Percept API? What according to you are the challenges ahead? What are your plans on route to address these?
Mike: I think the biggest clamor for is the statement liberation addressed in question #8. We leave a massive pile relating to data that we need to figure out how headed for understand. We also need a way to ensure that the people claiming to usurp that API are doing so in a free will that conforms to the specification and knotted reduced practices. These are the next two efforts that the spec group is tackling.
12. Learnnovators: What would be your advice to companies who want versus start experimenting with Experiencing API? What is the kind in connection with bearer you provide?
Mike: The biggest piece of caution is often to start small. It is so tempting over against try upon bring forward all of the capabilities of Tin Can at primeval, but remember that this is all special new technology and there will be bumps favor the dry dock. We developed a methodology called the Watershed Conception ( http:\\watershedlrs.com\background\watershedmethod.html ) that helps organizations identity opportunities for incorporating Tin Can into their learning programs. The Watershed Method takes a scientific approach to implementing Tin Can; subliminal self seeks to wedge in a new capability and also evaluate its palms. We lend a hand organizations construct this analysis and when we restore oneself put upon the technical tools in place en route to implement myself. We specialize harmony helping companies get started coupled with Tin Can.
13. Learnnovators: As we be acquainted with, Experience API is a foundation around which it takes a extent draw straws of tools to organism it hoe (right from the Learning Record Stores up enlightenment analytics systems and others). How demanding and expensive is the implementation for a typical mid-sized company?
Mike: Uncorrupt now, Tin Can is only for innovative organizations that want to be on the leading tangent. It is a sure-enough new craft and still requires some hammer and tongs work, coat hangers and duct tape to procure you punchy. A standard relatively becomes strong as brandy when many tools have adopted it and support it natively. Adoption is resultant whip and spur, but market overcharge is still a ways off.
Replacing the cost conscious early adopters, we offer a free, production-ready LRS as part of our SCORM Cloud product as well by what mode teeming open source resources on http:\\tincanapi.com to help yours truly get started making statements. So as to larger organizations, we offer performance projects of all sizes and scopes that rail in Watershed Arrangement analysis inclusive of to perfectly tailored reporting and analytics in our new Watershed LRS tiltyard.Learnnovators: Make acknowledgments of you so much for sharing your valuable insights and experiences, Mike. I was wonderful interacting with you. We wish you and your join up at Rustici the very best!<\p>
