xAPI vs Digital Adoption

This week I listened in on a great webcast by ATD about xAPI and eLearning by Tim Slade and Megan Torrance of Torrence Learning:   Tim Slade and Megan Torrance Answer Your Questions About xAPI.

xAPI make eLearning more nuanced and smart to allow for more adaptive learning.

One thing that really that really struck me is that even the most experienced instructional designers and learning professionals still literally don't know what xAPI is, let alone understand it, know how to implement it, and how to use it for their learners.

More importantly, it really just reminds me that as far along as traditional eLearning and xAPI have come, it is still years and years behind the power, technology, and analytics available with a Digital Adoption Platform. 

xAPI tracks user behavior, not just in completed vs non-completed during an eLearning course, but can track where users selected wrong answers first, where they struggled with navigation, and different eLearnign courses can speak to each other to improve user behavior across several platforms.

Whta is shocking is how little this is pushed and championed in the Learning and Development community, and the fact that individuals who are experts in the industry and have courses and certification programs in eLearning still don't understand it and still don't adopt it.

With digital adoption, xAPI functionality is something that is a given, and is functionality that I have been using since my first day as a digital adoption professional.

My point? Digital Adoption functionality is SO FAR BEYOND any type of eLearning functionality available!!! There, I said it!

As a digital adoption professional, you have a skill set that barely even the top 1% of the eLearning community has in capturing user behavior, adapting learning based on needs and preferences, and providing clear and concise analytics on not just completion, but on the complete user journey throughout a process, platform, or across the entire user tech stack!