102 Intro to xAPI: What Do Instructional Designers Need to Know
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, October 23
Jamaica AB
As adoption of xAPI takes hold, it allows for more robust and interesting tracking of the learning process. As actual performance and results data are integrated with learning metrics, we will have the data we need to tailor the learning process to individual needs, and can draw more useful conclusions about the learning as a whole across a wider population. This leaves instructional designers with a set of critical questions: How does this impact my work? What tools do I need? What data should I track? What infrastructure does my organization need to be able to take advantage of this?
In this session we'll discuss three key areas that impact instructional designers and their teams: Identifying learning data needs, data sources, and meaningful visualizations that answer organizational and L&D questions. We'll discuss how to determine what data to send, where it exists, and how to organize it. You'll become better at making choices about infrastructure and knowing how to work with your LMS, LRS, or both. Finally, you'll be provided job aids for implementation, including an organizational readiness checklist and an infographic for aligning learning and business data.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to describe the impact that xAPI can have on an organization's learning and performance strategies
- How to identify new challenges in your work as an instructional designer
- To identify data needs and likely sources within the organization
- How to choose one or more first projects that leverage xAPI's capabilities, beyond what's available in SCORM today
- How to select tools and platforms that support xAPI
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
xAPI, LRS, LMS, LXP, general elearning authoring tools
Megan Torrance
CEO
TorranceLearning
Megan Torrance is CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, which helps organizations connect learning strategy to design, development, data, and ultimately performance. She has more than 25 years of experience in learning design, deployment, and consulting . Megan and the TorranceLearning team are passionate about sharing what works in learning, so they devote considerable time to teaching and sharing about Agile project management for learning experience design and the xAPI. She is the author of Agile for Instructional Designers, The Quick Guide to LLAMA, and Making Sense of xAPI. Megan is also an eCornell Facilitator in the Women's Executive Leadership curriculum.
202 How to Choose an LMS Without Losing Your Mind
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Wednesday, October 23
Antigua B
Choosing a new learning platform is a little bit like falling down a rabbit hole. With more than 700 platforms from which to choose, getting lost is easy. Why not learn from the soul-sucking experience of those who have traveled this journey before?
In this session, you will learn 10 strategies for making the right choice the first time when it comes to an LMS. You will hear the story of how one non-profit took on the search for the perfect platform, and what they learned from their journey. You will learn from their mistakes and celebrate their success. Most of all, you will save yourself time and frustration by understanding how to make this process actually enjoyable. You will leave the session with concrete ways to make the correct decision the first time. This is an ideal session for those looking for a new LMS, or hoping to make a change to their current platform.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why we often ask the wrong questions when choosing a learning platform
- How to involve your constituents in the process
- How to base your choice in reality
- How to balance what you want with what you actually need
- The difference between a platform that can deliver content and one that can actually engage your learners
- Why asking the age of the learner is paramount
- The difference between mobile-ready platforms and truly responsive
Audience:
Managers, senior leaders, (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.), other LMS decision-makers
Technology discussed:
Learning management systems, learning platforms
Patrick Donovan
Director, The Leadership Institute
Diocese of Bridgeport
Patrick Donovan is the founding director of The Leadership Institute in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. He has more than 28 years of experience in education, ministry, and non-profit leadership. He is the author of four books and more than 100 articles on the intersection of media, ministry, and young people. He holds a BS in communications from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, an MA in theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a doctorate in theology from La Salle University.
SMNX105 Training Without Limits: Off-the-Shelf or Custom LMS?
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
It is always a tough decision … choose a product off-the-shelf and try to make it work or go directly at your problems with a custom build. Many factors come into play including time-to-market, up-front cost, and obviously features. While there are certainly cases to choose the pre-built system, the perceived simplicity of that solution is often a myth.
This discussion will focus on a comparison of each side, and a set of stories which some of you will find all too familiar. We will discuss benefits, challenges, time, and cost from both a short- and long-term perspective. Throughout the presentation, attendees will participate in exercises to help drive the conversation. Bring your phone!
In this session, you will learn:
- The challenges in choosing an LMS
- How to compare an off-the-shelf with a custom LMS
- Challenges others have experienced
Steve Hoerner
Director of Account Services
Motivation Technologies
Beat Bartlome
SVP of Solutions Development
Motivation Technologies
302 Are They Learning? Using xAPI to Correlate Training Performance
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Trinidad AB
Good courseware engages the user with multiple elements. From video to audio to the venerable drag-and-drop, you need to make sure your content is doing the job. But is your audience actually learning anything? More importantly, are they learning the lessons you need them to? And if they are, do you have the tools to prove that to your leadership?
In this session we will look at how you can use Experience API (xAPI) to capture data from the various elements of your content into a single, uniform format in the learning record store (LRS). Then, by looking at real-world example pages, you'll learn how you can start analyzing results to see which activities contribute most to learner success in the course. You'll also look at how you can compare key performance indicators (KPIs) to course engagement and success to show your leadership that your content is helping to improve performance, satisfaction, or whatever your goals may be. With this data in hand, you can craft your courses to ensure that they accomplish their goals and make the bosses happy.
In this session, you will learn:
- What xAPI is and how you can use it in your courses
- How to collect data on student interactions with your content
- How to report on the data you've collected
- How to use xAPI to compare content consumption to performance
- How to combine data to ensure that your activities are meeting their goals
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Experience API (xAPI) or Tin Can API, JavaScript, HTML5, Learning Record Stores (LRS)
Anthony Altieri
IDIoT in Chief/xAPI Evangelist
Omnes Solutions
Anthony Altieri is the IDIoT in Chief (instructional developer for the Internet of Things) and founder of Omnes Solutions, as well as an xAPI evangelist, authoring a course on xAPI Foundations for LinkedIn Learning. Anthony has worked on multiple projects implementing global LMS systems. He is a maker, focusing on user analytics and bringing the virtual learning world and the real world together through the use of Bluetooth beacons and other IoT devices using xAPI. Anthony has lectured to audiences on topics ranging from the spread of HIV to network security, content development, why it’s important to learn to code, and, of course, xAPI.
STRS106 Choosing a Learning Record Store (the 2019 Edition)
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 23
Expo Hall: Strategic Solutions Stage
The key differentiator when utilizing Experience API (xAPI) is that users have to make a long-term decision about how to manage the collected data. This decision, similarly to a decision of a learning management system choice, is driven by many factors including cost-per-user, accessibility, flexibility, security, and ultimately sustainability. The choice is undoubtedly connected with the question of what you want to do with your data, as xAPI enables activity data collection with high-resolution insights into specific learning activities of the solution.
This presentation explores the latest update of the original white paper developed by the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) in 2016. In this session, you will be provided an overview of the LRS options and receive general, unbiased guidelines for purchase or development of an LRS in 2019. The right choice of an LRS should give you the ability to use data in shaping your understanding of how engaging or valuable a learning experience is for a learner.
In this session, you will learn:
- Categories and examples of LRSs
- Special features and issues to consider
- Types of learning analytics approaches
- How to create a guiding matrix
Audience:
Developers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
LRS, LMS, github
Biki (Biljana) Presnall
Vice President
Jefferson Institute
Biki (Biljana) Presnall is vice president at Jefferson Institute, providing support to the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. She has 18 years of experience of creating and deploying digital tools to transform societies around the world. She designed, delivered, and advised online learning for many global, public, and military organizations, and served as a SME for topics of data visualization, data journalism, and digital security for numerous online courses in Europe and USA. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the ADL.
402 Meaningful Measurement: Getting Greater Value from Learning Analytics
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
St Croix AB
Are we really able to tell how people use digital learning? How do we gain visibility that learning is being applied? Sophisticated tracking gives us the ability to gain insights from user behavior. By focusing on what we can successfully capture—such as time spent within the learning, what learning assets are most popular, and even user sentiment—it's now possible to gain a rich picture of the experience of learning. In this talk we'll explain why tracking is more important than ever, show you technology innovations that push measurement beyond the LMS, and demonstrate how to infer meaning from the data being captured to inform decision-making.
In this session you’ll see how to harness behavioral data to optimize user experience. Go beyond tracking completions and measure the real, lived experiences of your learners to explain how they're interacting with digital learning. You'll discover how to take a human-centered approach when collecting and interpreting data, and explore how to turn this into engagement stories to benefit your learners. You'll receive tips for designing learning that gathers meaningful data, and investigate how to make sense of it. Discover how machine learning and AI can be utilized to transform trend data into statement-based insights to win over decision-makers. Finally, you'll see real-world examples of how analytics dashboards can be used to seduce stakeholders with beautifully-designed user interface.
In this session, you will learn:
- How learner behavioral data can be used to empower L&D
- Techniques to frame the right questions to unlock focused data capture
- Practical tips for getting meaningful insights from your data
- Ways to tailor learning programs based on behavioral insights
- How to win over your stakeholders with beautiful and insightful data presentation
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
Learning analytics dashboards, Big Data, behavioral trends, machine learning, artificial intelligence
Kate Pasterfield
Chief Innovation Officer
Sponge
With 15 years' of learning experience, Kate Pasterfield is committed to driving innovation. Her pioneering work harnessing the latest technologies such as data analytics, VR, and games to deliver bespoke training solutions has received industry-wide recognition. Kate was awarded Learning Technologies Designer of the Year 2016 and now works as chief innovation officer at Sponge, Learning Provider of the Year 2019. Kate combines her passion for creativity and learning to help organizations such as AstraZeneca, Toyota, and Tesco improve people performance to address serious business challenges. With a focus on human-centered design, Kate encourages L&D teams to inspire learners through creativity.
SMNX202 Personal Data Protection Compliance in Assessment
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Thursday, October 24
Expo Hall: Management Xchange Stage
Personal data protection has become a concern for people around the globe, with countries everywhere creating their own privacy laws and standards to protect citizens and their data. With new laws in place such as GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, and LGPD in Brazil, institutions that serve global populations need strategies for compliance with the privacy standards in every country where their customers reside.
Compliance with personal data collection laws is important to any institution that collects the data of their clients. This session will address different tactics used in the assessment industry that can be used to avoid issues with compliance. You will explore different tactics used to collect personal data that can be applied to different industries.
In this session, you will learn:
- The definition of personal data
- Global standards and laws related to personal data protection
- Different tactics used in the assessment industry which can be used to avoid issues with compliance when collecting personal data
- Different tactics that can be applied to different industries regarding the collection of personal data
- How to evaluate your company's need for collecting personal data
- How to remain compliant with personal data collection standards
Technologies discussed:
Proctorio
Target audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Ian Bartczak
Director of Sales
Proctorio
Ian Bartczak, director of sales at Proctorio, is a passionate sales, business development, and technology professional that supports organizations by increasing revenue, market expansion, and overall business operations. Ian’s focus is on making quality education more accessible to students everywhere, while still upholding academic integrity. Before Proctorio, Ian spent nine years as a business development manager for multiple nonprofit organizations. During his time at the Scottsdale Cultural Council, Ian helped create a young professionals board to bring awareness to the community for contemporary and performing arts. After a successful career fundraising for the arts and sciences, Ian took his expertise to the EdTech industry, assisting the growth of local startups.
502 Design for Outcome: Developing an xAPI Data Strategy
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 24
Antigua A
xAPI enables us to track a wide array of data but shareholders are interested in results, not the technology. Simply tracking everything is not a strategy and often creates noise that makes xAPI data more difficult to use. Instead, you need to step back to identify WHAT needs to be tracked with xAPI, and only afterward go through the process to design quality statements.
In this session you'll explore a process for designing good xAPI statements, regardless of the tools or technology used to generate this data. You'll investigate the following questions to create an xAPI data strategy: What is the desired outcome, what are the report and query capabilities of your LRS to deliver those results, can you actually get the data required, and what existing vocabularies exist for the statements you create? Using real life examples and current tools, by the end of this session you’ll be ready to develop a data strategy to meet your current and future needs with meaningful xAPI data.
In this session, you will learn:
- The anatomy of an xAPI statement
- The query capabilities and limitations of xAPI data
- A process for designing interactions for quality results
- Common pitfalls for xAPI projects
- Where to find resources to expand your xAPI capabilities
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers
Technology discussed:
xAPI, LRS, rapid development authoring tools, business intelligence tools, xAPI libraries and profiles
Art Werkenthin
President
RISC
Art Werkenthin, president of RISC, built his first learning management system (LMS) in 1988 and now has over 25 years' experience working with LMS in the oil and gas, retail, finance, and other industries. Art is keenly interested in the xAPI specification, and RISC was an early adopter of this technology. Interested in expanding the xAPI to the LMS, Art has served for the past three years on the ADL cmi5 committee. In 2015, RISC demonstrated the first implementation of a cmi5 runtime engine embedded in its LMS. Art has presented on cmi5 at several conferences, including mLearnCon, DevLearn, and xAPI Camp.
Duncan Welder
Director of Client Services
RISC
Duncan Welder is a director of client services for RISC. He is an educational technology geek, having spent over 20 years implementing learning management systems, domestically and abroad, to manage regulatory compliance. As an xAPI evangelist with a career grounded in instructional design and eLearning, Duncan has provided presentations to professional organizations including the Connections Forum, The Learning Guild, and the Association for Talent Development. Duncan is an active member of the Houston ATD, currently serving as director of special interest groups.
513 Taking xAPI Profiles Further: Technical Implementation of the Profile Spec
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Thursday, October 24
Martinique B
As xAPI has gained increased adoption across the industry, challenges have emerged as we have seen inconsistencies in both the expression and structure of xAPI data generated from a wide variety of tools and sources. While the xAPI profile specification was designed to define and standardize the data structure, more support and definition is needed on how to apply xAPI profiles for specific use cases. In practice, many organizations are developing their own unique approaches without any consistency in xAPI usage that can be re-purposed for a larger audience.
In this session you'll hear about the research conducted for updating xAPI profiles, as well as the beginning framework of a repeatable methodology for anyone attempting to put xAPI profiles into practice. We'll share actionable recommendations on how to implement xAPI profiles to ensure conformance and consistency across the implementation spec. This session will be helpful for those who are considering the investment and technical application of xAPI profiles in their organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- Targeted development tips and techniques for creating xAPI profiles
- How to ensure conformance and consistency in your xAPI usage
- How to apply xAPI profiles to specific use cases
- Recommendations on how to put xAPI profiles into practice
Audience:
Developers, managers
Technology discussed:
xAPI, eLearning standards (xAPI, cmi5), learning analytics
Rose Benedicks
CEO
Dashe & Thomson
Rose Benedicks is a renowned learning design expert and CEO of Dashe & Thomson. She has won awards for her learning experiences and is recognized for her approach to workplace challenges. She excels in aligning learning with business needs and proving the ROI of well-designed learning experiences. She holds a masters in instructional systems technology from Indiana University, is a leading presenter in the industry, and teaches instructional technology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
TJ Seabrooks
Chief Technology Officer
PeopleFluent
TJ Seabrooks is the chief technology officer at PeopleFluent, where he leads the engineering and technology organizations. TJ is influential in the evolution of eLearning standards–he played an integral role in the contribution to two Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) awarded to Rustici by Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL), and has been a key contributor to the xAPI specification since 2012. TJ has an MS in computer science from Vanderbilt University and a BS in computer science from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. He is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
602 Improving Employee Retention with xAPI
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 24
Antigua A
One in five newly-graduated registered nurses quits within the first year of their first job, never to return to nursing. Exit interviews often reveal the same basic stories: nurses feel unsupported and overwhelmed by the transition from school to nursing practice. But what if hospitals had an early warning system to inform interventions that address a newly-graduated nurse's concerns before a nurse feels like they have to quit? And how could this early warning system be used in other situations, as well?
In this case study session, you'll learn ways to design evidence-based interventions and how xAPI can give you the data you need to inform your decisions and approaches. You'll explore different components of this particular case study and then look at the process to launch and improve a small suite of interventions that were able to continually provide actionable insights to improve content, tools, and outcomes. You’ll find out how to use instructional design and xAPI together to drive performance support, eLearning, and other feedback loops to affect real-world outcomes and provide needed insights to multiple stakeholders. You will leave the session with strategic approaches for how to measurably impact retention and ROI.
In this session, you will learn:
- What kinds of questions drive an outcome-focused learning project
- How to identify data needed to answer those questions
- How to design feedback loops to provide this necessary data
- How to use data to tell stories to different stakeholders
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Aaron Silvers
Manager, Analytics
Elsevier
Aaron E. Silvers helps teams achieve real-world outcomes with analytics strategies for high compliance, high accountability concerns. A common theme throughout his 20+ year career is an optimistic embrace of talent, emerging technology, and entrepreneurialism that charts learning & development paths towards measurable outcomes that scale.
613 Measure ROI by Collecting, Connecting & Visualizing Data
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Thursday, October 24
Montego DE
Training professionals find it difficult to prove the ROI of their efforts. That makes it harder to grow programs, sell training services, or find our "seat at the table”. Many of us can't get past Kirkpatrick's levels one or two to measure our training outcomes, and as a result can't also measure the broader impact of our training efforts. How do we get access to the data we need, and how do we successfully use that data to tell a story that resonates with stakeholders?
In this session, you'll learn how to make more effective, data-driven decisions about your program. You'll explore new ways to measure the impact of your programs and discover different options for connecting your data. You'll also experiment with different approaches to data-driven storytelling. To tie it all together, you'll leave with a plan to connect your data and set up a measurement plan that drives more sustainable training outcomes.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to move past smile-sheets and quizzes as measurement tools
- How to connect training data from multiple sources
- How to use training data and business data to show the impact of your program
- How to tell stories using data that resonate with stakeholders and executives
- What the different options for data integration look like
Audience:
Designers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
LMS, data warehouse, data visualization, CRM, HRIS, IPaaS
Adam Avramescu
Global Customer Training & Enablement Leader
Slack
Adam Avramescu is a customer education leader with over 10 years of experience working with software companies across finance, marketing, HR, and other industries. Since starting his career as an instructional designer working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to higher-education and non-profits, he has built and grown customer education programs for companies such as Optimizely, Kasasa, and Checkr. In 2014, he started the Bay Area Customer Education Meetup, numbering 800 members. He also co-hosts the podcast CELab: The Customer Education Laboratory, and is active in speaking and writing about the role of customer education for modern technology companies.
Dave Derington
Director of User Enablement
Azuqua
Dave Derington is currently the director of Azuqua's user enablement program, working relentlessly to help customers, partners, and team members alike to have passion for Azuqua. Part investigative journalist, part teacher, and part computer geek, Dave loves to make complex technology easy by learning things the hard way, organizing it, and sharing that knowledge to everyone who needs it in a fun and relatable way. Dave's career has spanned many industries. He has been a laboratory chemist, a professor, a web developer, a project manager, a business analyst, and more.
716 BYOD: Use Power BI to Track, Analyze, and Visualize Training Data for Free
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Friday, October 25
Montego C
L&D teams are eager to collect and use training analytics data, but effective dashboards are missing from many learning platforms. That's because training analytics dashboards are challenging to implement, and every end-user wants something just a bit different. Some analytics tools require a graduate-level understanding of statistics to learn and use, but not Power BI. This free tool from Microsoft makes it easy for you to rapidly create a custom suite of dashboards, and craft reports and data visualizations that can demonstrate the impact of training to managers or convince executives that eLearning correlates to improvements in KPIs.
In this session, you’ll learn the skills you’ll need to start using PowerBI to create the dashboards and reports you need. You’ll use a sample LMS export file in this tool and find out what steps to take to turn your data into beautiful dashboards and reports. Power BI offers dozens of data visualization formats, so you’ll take a closer look at how to use it to visualize your training data, link data tables, add or change variables, and use natural language queries to explore your data more deeply. You’ll also discover how to create a dashboard that provides one-glance access to the latest data, and create custom views that limit or extend access to other teams and individuals in your organization.
In this session, you will learn:
- The capabilities of the free Power BI platform
- How to download and use Power BI
- To import training data and configure visual widgets
- To design custom reports and data visualizations
- How to use filtering to adjust which data is graphed
- To perform AI-enabled natural language queries
- How to create and share custom dashboards and reports
- How to schedule daily data refreshes
Audience:
Developers, managers
Technology discussed:
Microsoft Power BI
Participant technology requirements:
A Windows laptop. Windows 7 is the minimum required to run Microsoft PowerBI, but Windows 10 is recommended.
Dan Belhassen
President/Founder
Neovation Learning Solutions
Dan Belhassen is the president and founder of Neovation Learning Solutions. A 20+ year tech entrepreneur, Dan Belhassen is passionate about how integrating relevant technology improves KPIs and drives opportunities, with a laser-focus on how best to measure the impact of online training to close skill and knowledge gaps. His speaking style is best described as "demystifying all things internet, making technology understandable/adoptable even by the least tech-savvy person in the audience” while engaging and even challenging the technical professionals in the room.
802 Measure the Impact of Social Learning
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Friday, October 25
Andros B
What if there was a way to get more accurate data on what, how, and when people needed to learn? Standard L&D analytics generally measure content: Who took what course or module? Where did they take it? When? And, did they like it? We assess with ADDIE models, trying to ensure we hit the right pain points for learners. We use surveys and guesswork. Yet we ignore social learning, the very best source of learning data in an organization.
This session will teach you how to measure the impact social learning has on organizational performance, drill down into what data matters, and uncover how you can measure it. If you measure social learning, you can improve not just people's work experiences, but also your formal learning content. It's not about content views. It's not about social media metrics. It's about interaction. (We generally call this social network analytics.) This session will get you started with measuring social learning and give you strategies for how to respond to the results. You’ll discover what data you should look for, how to find it, what other data you can add to produce a more rounded picture, and how you should communicate with executives and other stakeholders about the findings.
In this session, you will learn:
- Social network analysis basics
- Basic social learning measurement
- How to leverage the interplay with other organizational data sources
- Techniques for measuring ESN/chat data
Audience:
Designers, developers, managers, senior leaders (directors, VP, CLO, executive, etc.)
Technology discussed:
ESNs/chat tools, social media tools, SWOOP analytics
James Tyer
Vive Engage Customer Engagement
Microsoft
James Tyer has helped organizations make the most of tools such as Microsoft Viva Engage for over 15 years.He helps people talk to and work together at scale in or between organizations. He designs the facilitation process, builds bridges between silos, and teaches/coaches new ways of working and collaborating.