MakingBetter

Strategy. Ecosystems. Meaning.

Aaron

What You Missed at TRYxAPI – ATD ICE

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Riptide Software hosted a fantastic event on Saturday for the launch of TRYxAPI.com. The afternoon featured John Delano, Nick Washburn and myself leading a critically needed dialogue around the Experience API about what matters to executive leadership, and to a field that is still largely making sense of major changes happening in the learning & development field.

Our discussions featured Trish Uhl, Russell Duhon, Duncan Welder, Phil and Nick Stephenson, Lizelle van den Berg, Ian Gibson, Damon Regan of ADL with participation by many more.

John kicked off the afternoon talking about lessons learned consulting up to senior leaders in manufacturing and tech. In his presentation, John added richer insight into the executive mindset.

“I know training is important. I just don’t know how valuable. So I’ll spend the minimum on it.”

John said this translates down to L&D as “There’s no budget and there’s no permission to do anything different.” How John proposed we counter this mindset is by looking for “performance opportunities” — looking for common learning models and having a plan for how to discuss and execute on different types of opportunities for L&D to make a business impact — starting with needs for information dissemination and skills development.

After much discussion over different learning models and ways to map performance in terms of outcomes, behaviors, systems, content and competency, we all participated in smaller discussions as we practiced defining the value propositions of each others’ projects. This was in service to leveraging Saltbox’s Learning Model Canvas.

After a break where we had an opportunity to use our drink tickets (thank you, Nick ;), I re-introduced the Experience API for not-so-technical practitioners and consultants who need to understand what it is, who it benefits and what challenges it addresses.

The real highlight of the day, though, was the new site put together by Nick and his team at Riptide Software: TRYxAPI.com. What Nick and the team have put together is a highly usable and useful means to understand not only what xAPI does for businesses — it identifies the open source tools that are freely available for people to use on their own to literally try xAPI in their own organizations with a blueprint for how to replicate those case studies. This customer-centric approach is evident in the case study examples shared to model how other vendors and other organizations can share their tools and their case studies.

Two of Riptide’s examples really resonated strongly. The discussion around what Riptide did for Gate Retail Onboard was a clear example of how a small prototype project for xAPI proved huge ROI in terms of linking how improving the digital availability of performance support, and evaluating its use, impacted sales numbers and then encouraged full-on adoption as revenues dramatically increased for the company. The second example shared was the work Riptide has done in concert with the US Army, improving its sharpshooting training while also improving its sharpshooting training facility.

These case studies inspired a wealth of conversation not just around the shift for L&D with the opportunity to support major business impacts with explicit goals, but the nature of using xAPI to evaluate the very systems themselves, like what Sean Putman started with Altair Software, where the same information being evaluated to help folks improve their performance is being used to also improve the software they’re learning about.

Nick teased that another TRYxAPI event may happen in time for December’s I/ITSEC conference in Orlando. I’ll be there. I can’t wait.

 

Talk Shop with Aaron at ATD ICE

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AaronThe ATD International Conference and Expo is an event so huge that it has its own gravitational pull. We’re in its orbit and so I’ll be there from Saturday through Wednesday.

I’m easy enough to find by giving me a shout on Twitter (@aaronesilvers). If you’re shy, just message me, but if you’re not shy, please come up and say hi. I am there to talk shop with you. Yes. You.

I’m not presenting anything after the TRYxAPI event on Saturday, May 16 (12:30-5pm, Hyatt Regency, free to non-attendees). Which means even if (when) I’m hanging out with the likes of Julie Dirksen, Trish Uhl, Cammy Bean and Justin Brusino (among many others), I’m at ATD ICE to listen to whatever you got going on and offer actionable feedback. I’m there to coach. I’m there for you to bounce an idea off of me. I’m there for the jokes. I’m good for a cup of coffee or a beer. I’m happy to grab a bite to eat with you.

For realz. I’m there to hang, make new friends, help folks connect with the people, know-how and resources they need and generally be helpful.

So if you want to talk about how to get a seat at the table, let’s talk about that because I have lessons learned. If you want to talk about designing learning experiences that go beyond slides and classrooms, lets model out those design ideas. If you want to talk about how to break out of your rut, believe me, I’ve been there and would love to help you.

You’ll likely find me in the hallways or in the expo hall hanging with xAPI community folks — including our friends at RISC, Float and Riptide.

If you just want to know activities I recommend at ICE, here’s a short list:

Saturday: TRYxAPI

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

This Week in MakingBetter: Getting Our Learn On

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This week is busy, and we have a new Faith No More album to stream from NPR, so let’s get to it, gang!

The #LEARNxAPI MOOC is starting tomorrow, Tuesday 5/12. There are so many great resources being curated for people who want to get into the business and the tech of xAPI, we could not be more proud to be a part of this. There’s still time to sign up and with over 300 registered already, you won’t be the only one (ahem) getting your learn on.

As part of the MOOC, on Thursday at 2pm Eastern, I’ll be hosting a Twitter chat on xAPI. Even if you’re not enrolled, you’re certainly welcome to join us. Just look for the #LEARNxAPI hashtag… we’ll be around and likely rowdy.

This week is just a prelude for the blitz of xAPI activity around ATD’s International Conference and Expo in Orlando, FL starting this weekend. On Saturday, 5/16, the launch of #TRYxAPI will be happening thanks to Nick Washburn and Riptide Software. John Delano of Saltbox and I will be presenting and facilitating things that help professionals make the business case for learning experiences, as well as design them. Nick will share some case studies where open source xAPI projects are put to work. It’s free, with a full bar (not a typo), so you should join us if you’re around from 12:30-5:00pm. RSVP now!

Next Tuesday, the xAPI party bus descends on Taverna Opa for the xAPI/Tin Can Meetup hosted by Rustici Software and Saltbox. Thankfully, I just get to hang there while they do all the hosting, so I’ll be looking forward to it. Space is limited so you should let them know you’re coming so an appropriate amount of hummus is available (it’s their joke… 😉

If you’re at ATD ICE next week and you want to grab some coffee or a Cuban sandwich, just say the word!

xAPI Camp Videos on Connections Forum

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As promised, almost every other day we’re posting something new from our one-day xAPI Camp that took place at University of Central Florida on March 24. There are many more videos to go, and you can check out what different organizations are doing with the Experience API right now!

Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson
LRS and xAPI Conformance

 

Ben Betts

Ben Betts
Enabling Personal Data Ownership

 

Marty Rosenheck

Marty Rosenheck
Driving Innovation in Teacher Education

 

Art Werkenthin

Art Werkenthin on CMI5

 

Delano Headshot

John Delano
Speaking the Language of Business

 

Two Years of xAPI

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Sunday, April 26, marked two years since xAPI was released. It was released with much celebration and promise. I went back and looked through my old blog to see what I said about it back then… and apparently I was mute on the subject. The post written for ADL was pretty matter-of-fact.

Connections ForumLooking back, I was exhausted and believed taking up skateboarding was an appropriate “next challenge.”

That didn’t lead to an enduring success like xAPI. 😉

Two years ago, the community unleashed an opportunity for change. In its first year following xAPI’s release, innovative practitioners and teams began their experiments and proofs-of-concept with xAPI. Their sharing of stories caught steam and by November 2014 we began to see just want was happening in xAPI’s second year.

This week we’ve begun sharing video presentations of the case studies shared at xAPI Camp-Orlando. Starting with John Delano of Saltbox talking about using xAPI as a means to speak the language of business, and with more than a dozen presentations, we’ll be sharing them all over the next month.

Just as a community came together to create the specification, a community is devoting resources now for learning and experimenting with xAPI. It is getting better and easier for non-technical and novice folks to understand how to design and develop with xAPI with a depth and breadth that is stilllacking with SCORM. Here is a list of just a handful of activities coming up in the next month:

Beyond May, what’s to come with and around xAPI is nothing short of extraordinary. We’ve been going non-stop beyond the past few weeks’ efforts with xAPI Camp-Orlando, launching RISC, Inc.’s PDF Annotator at Learning Solutions, Up to All of Us 2015. Even with both TRYxAPI and LEARNxAPI initiatives, there is so. much. more.

Stay tuned 😉

This Week in MakingBetter: #xAPI Camp Sells Out; #LScon DemoFest

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It’s been a quiet few weeks while our heads have been down getting things done, but this week has been something special.

xAPI Camp FTW!

Craig Wiggins put together a Storify that really captured the heart of the event we’ve been planning since March 2014. Here’s how it played by some numbers:

  • 101 Participants (21 over capacity)
  • 125 Sandwiches consumed.
  • 15 unique presentations focusing on real-world solutions enabled by xAPI.
  • 87 Cups of Coffee consumed (36% of capacity)

We are blown away by the amount of interest in xAPI, and so are many others. We’re happy to announce there will be an xAPI Camp coming with DevLearn 2015 in Las Vegas, NV, at the MGM Grand (details forthcoming). We are planning events with the eLearning Guild (and with other partners) through 2016 and we’ll have an event calendar up in the next few weeks.

MakingBetter @ DemoFest

 

 

PDF Annotator Visualization
This isn’t a mock-up — this is a screenshot of RISC, Inc.’s new PDF Annotator Visualization in full action.

The timing worked out just right that as we’re wrapping up our first project with RISC, Inc, not only was xAPI Camp happening, Learning Solutions was, too. Art Werkenthin and I will be at DemoFest on Thursday, March 27, to talk about “PDF Annotation in the Cloud: A Real-world Application of the xAPI” The story behind it is simple. The request from the client goes back years and simply could not be realized until the advent of xAPI. With Float Mobile Learning and RISC, Inc’s collaboration on their PDF Annotator app, we worked with the data to visualize the aggregate use of these important support documents so the client can improve their various documents and therefore improve safety and compliance in some of the toughest jobs in the energy industry. We are incredibly excited to illustrate just what can be done with xAPI that makes a real difference in organizational performance. Talk to us at DemoFest on Thursday!!!

Managing Data-Driven Projects

Megan Torrance, of Torrance Learning, collaborated with Megan and I on a presentation where we dished on what Learning & Development departments might want to know about managing different kinds of projects when data joins the fray.

This Week in MakingBetter: Teamwork and Tough Questions

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As a Packer fan, I can relate to the angst of the 12th Man. Still, though, you have to admire the team spirit.

There’s a lot of team spirit about the xAPI community. The third xAPI Design Cohort kicked off, but there’s still time to sign up by February 5. Last week, our friends across the pond hosted a literal “bar” camp for xAPI — over forty people talking xAPI at a pub in London after the Learning Technologies UK conference. If the blog posts, tweets and pictures are any indication, a good time was had by all. Two weeks ago, Rustici Software shared a number of case studies presented during a webinar debuting a first glimpse at the work we’re doing with RISC, Inc. creating custom reporting and data visualization to go with the PDF Annotator Application they developed with Float Mobile.

The Tough Questions Are the Good Ones

Meanwhile, a couple of great questions have emerged over the past week. Our friend, Joe Fournier, wrote about his questions about privacy with xAPI (and other forms of data). This Thursday, we’ll record a chat to go deeper on this issue.

Mark Spivey has been asking a lot of questions on Twitter and LinkedIn about xAPI, its potential utility with linked data, and concerns about xAPI’s ability to work at “webscale.”

Site Updates

We’ve gotten wonderfully busy with client work. Kicking off new projects this week makes for a very fun start to the year. In the next couple of months, however, we not only will work a lot with our clients, but between Learning Solutions, xAPI Camp in Orlando, Up to All of Us and the forthcoming xAPI Summit in Spring Arbor, Michigan we have a pretty full slate. We took a cue from Duce Enterprises and started working on our events calendar to make it simpler for you to find us — not just at conferences, but in webinars, hangouts, workshops and local meetups. We travel a bit and we love meeting people, geeking out about learning and making new friends. I hope you’ll look us up.

We clarified what it is we do through MakingBetter, and who we help. With the work we’ve been doing for different kinds of clients, be they individuals or organizations, one thing has become clear. Our clients believe learning and organizational development are levers for growth. They rely on us to help them elevate their game with innovative learning technology. Our clients want to make a dent in the universe. We provide coaching and consulting: needs analysis, architecture, design, procurement, development and implementation.

Go ahead and read more about what we’re doing.

What We’re Into

Dave Gray wrote about “How to Create Your Future Self” – key quote there is “By paying attention to your experience, as it happens, in the moment, you can find that there are many other possible ways of being and doing.” This reminds me a lot about advice I’ve taken to heart — “Be deliberate.” Being deliberate is tough, though. It requires making choices. Matt Cross had some good advice recently on “How to Choose.”

Brandy Agerbeck began her Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of her second book on visual thinking. Brandy’s incredible and one of the people we’d really enjoy working with. The Idea Shapers is going to be a great book and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Our friend and one of our extended teammates at MakingBetter, Dustin Updyke, has been building quite a following on LinkedIn. His latest post highlights the difference between maturity and startup is one of mindset.

This TED Talk is so meta that it requires sharing.

This Week in MakingBetter: Our Presentation on Adaptive Learning, LEGO and Caricatures

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Aaron, Megan and Sarah Gilbert at the RISC booth #atdTK
Sarah Gilbert, Megan and I got our caricatures done, courtesy of our good friends at RISC, Inc.

Wow, last week a doozy. ATD TechKnowledge had us giving presentations, participating in panel discussions, connecting with old friends and making new ones, too.

ATD TechKnowledge Recap

We presented twice last week. Our presentation on Content Strategy remained basically in-tact from DevLearn this last year with some expansion on granularity, modularity and discreteness. No need to re-download a new slide deck, though. Those details are also included in a new presentation we shared on The Big Picture of Adaptive Learning.

For more than 30 years, the Artificial Intelligence community looked at pre-determined, logic-based approaches to static maps of domain knowledge (that’s a mouthful). In the last five years, there’s been a bit of a shift to make data-driven recommendations and personalized content a reality in the near-term. The technology, math, and science that makes this possible is pretty crazy and how well it works is completely dependent on the design of the content (which informs our approach to content strategy). How well it works also depends on the quality of the data and the accuracy of a learner’s experience with the content, compared to what that content is designed for.

These technologies aren’t ready for enterprise learning yet, for reasons we expose in the presentation — chief among them is that enterprise really doesn’t have enough content to cover the bases. That said, some technologies are here now. The design practices needed to make use of adaptive learning now and into the future represent the best practices you should be applying in your organization’s information and content management practices.

And yeah, that includes using xAPI to collect analytics on how content is used in context. Then compare that to the design goals of that content. Then… continuously improve the content experience to bridge the gaps you discover.

Where Did We Get All Those LEGO Pictures?

You’d be surprised how difficult it is to find straight-up illustrations from one source of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but as soon as I looked on Flickr, Barney Main‘s pictures showed up. We reached out and he was very kind to give us permission to use his images, and we found others online as well. People like Barney are doing some great stuff with LEGO and we were just glad to be able to share some of that with y’all.

What’s Our Content Strategy Presentation Like?

I hadn’t had the opportunity to formally meet Dan Steer before last week. He had some very lovely things to say about our presentation on Content Strategy.

Read here.

What We’re Reading…

What We’re Listening To…

  • Megan has the new Mark Ronson album on repeat.
  • I’m digging the new Belle & Sebastian album.