Adopting the discipline of an embedded performance support (EPS) strategy has become an increasing imperative for many organizations. EPS remains a curiosity for many more wrapped in the question: “How do we get there?” Answering that question requires a long, hard look at whether the organization is ready to go there, or if they are in a state of readiness to go there.

You’re excited about the promise of the xAPI-enabled world, but you’ve still got a learning management system (LMS) and a host of SCORM-based courses that you need. But what if you could get the most out of both a LMS and a learning record store (LRS) at the same time?

Too often, learning is evaluated based upon one of two measures: whether learners like it, and/or how much it costs to produce. Unfortunately, the former isn’t useful, and the latter isn’t critical. Yet, increasingly, actions will have to be documented, and measurement is key. There are meaningful metrics for learning, but they should be about whether they are helping the organization. Kirkpatrick, ROI, impact—to make sense of these, you need to know some core concepts.

How do you know if the money spent on training and development is worth it? One of the ways find out is by using analytics to assess who is using content: where, when, and how. Deciphering the ways to analyze a program’s effectiveness can be confusing. There is a lot of talk about big data, but what does it all mean? And just because there is a lot of data, does that really make any of it valuable?

Organizations are increasingly looking beyond the confines of learning management systems. Where organizations were once focused on content delivery, they’re now switching to user-generated content and more social, connected learning experiences. As devices and sensors are added to the learning environment, datasets have marched toward the realms of big data. Yet, as is so often the case with data-driven strategies, connecting data with action can remain a mystery.

As adoption of the xAPI begins to take hold, the convergence of working and learning offers instructional designers the opportunity and the challenge to do more than ever before. The xAPI allows for more robust and interesting tracking of the learning process, including learning that happens outside the LMS and on the job. As an instructional designer, are you ready to step up to this challenge?

The Experience API and emerging technologies afford organizations the opportunity to create adaptive learning ecosystems of functionality to support learners. Designing learning ecosystems and adaptive systems requires a shift in design approaches. While the Experience API can provide common tracking similar to SCORM for a learning management system, it really extends the ability to collect data with value between systems. This intersystem data value, combined with new design approaches, unlocks a number of use cases.

SCORM, the xAPI, cmi5, and a host of other learning data standards exist and have widespread acceptance in the learning community. How can these standards extend beyond the learning world into the realm of enterprise technology? What the industry needs now is a distinct and real conversation on how to align learning technology with the technology used by the rest of the enterprise.

With the advent of the xAPI, a new learning technology product has come into being: the learning record store (LRS). It is a requirement for using the xAPI to track learner behavior, serving as a repository for data generated by the xAPI statements. Stakeholders need to know the basics of how LRSs work and the range of features available in them in order to make intelligent acquisition, ecosystem design, and implementation decisions. In order to use the xAPI, you must have an LRS.

As the financial and operational benefits of big data become more apparent to business leaders, the demand for accountable and impactful learning is growing. Learning portals, MOOCs, the xAPI, social media, and collaboration tools provide new channels for learning delivery, yet most learning departments are stuck measuring the traditional four levels.