TIN CAN整合

TINCAN 又名xAPI.什么是xAPI呢？它是新一代的学习技术规格，破除了过去eLearning标准SCORM只能记录课件阅读过程的局限，新的标准目的在捕捉并记录不同学习活动中的学习者行为，包含移动学习、模拟、虚拟世界、严肃游戏、真实世界中的活动、体验式学习、社会化学习与协作式学习等不同类型的学习活动。这也解决了我们过去在学习记录与分析上的缺口，因为学习不只是阅读课件，学习发生在与他人或内容的互动过程中，这些过程都可以透过xAPI记录下来。当需要记录一项学习活动时，xAPI协议就会发出以”主词＋动词＋受词”的表示格式给学习记录库LRS(Learning Record Store)，学习记录库记录并储存所有发生的表述，学习记录库能够跟其它的学习记录库分享这些数据，并且学习仓储能独立存在或者存在于学习管理系统里。

  xAPI的优势在于其弹性，这些弹性让xAPI有许多应用的可能性:

表述的弹性：使用”主词＋动词＋受词”的表述上的弹性，可以让你记录几乎任何一种学习活动与行为，并且可以与SCORM标准兼容。

历史纪录的弹性：xAPI能让不同学习记录库相互沟通，学习经验的纪录能随着个人在不同组织间移转。学习者甚至可以有他们个人学习资料库，其内储存个人的学习信息。

设备的弹性：任何设备都能产生xAPI的表述数据（手机、模拟、游戏等…），并且不需要一直连网，只要偶尔连网资料可以传输即可。

工作流的弹性：对于学习事件起始或结束的追踪不一定要在学习管理平台完成，可以是在学习者使用的任何设备上完成,不必要局限在学习平台上。

SCORM与AICC等学习科技的规范已经存在好一段时间，并且也达到其目的。这些规范使得内容生产者与内容使用者能良好的沟通，但这也有其缺陷。xAPI在前一代标准历经十年的行业经验累积与发展后, 充分考虑其软肋，形成了简单却强大的新规范，成为助力未来学习科技发展的支撑。透过xAPI能让不同工具间相互分享与接受各种各样的数据。当更清楚的知道学习者完成了哪些活动后，便能提供学习者更多合适的建议。这也大幅拓展了学习的生态圈，不管学习在哪发生，都可以透过xAPI记录下来。

就像十几年前SCORM对e-Learning产业的深远影响，xAPI能够开启行业对学习大数据的应用，对未来的产业有长远的影响，也可以说是一种具有先进代表性的智慧学习底层支撑。

Previous specifications were difficult and had limitations (see Tin Can vs SCORM), but the Tin Can API is simple and flexible. It lifts many of the older restrictions. Mobile learning, simulations, virtual worlds, serious games, real-world activities, experiential learning, social learning, offline learning, and collaborative learning are just some of the things that can now be recognized and communicated well with the Tin Can API.

It’s important to know that we don’t own the Tin Can API. ADL is the steward of the specification. We just know this space so well that ADL asked us to help develop it. The Tin Can API is community-driven, and free to implement.

How does the Tin Can API work?

• People learn from interactions with other people, content, and beyond. These actions can happen anywhere and signal an event where learning could occur. All of these can be recorded with the Tin Can API.
• When an activity needs to be recorded, the application sends secure statements in the form of “Noun, verb, object” or “I did this” to aLearning Record Store (LRS.)
• Learning Record Stores record all of the statements made. An LRS can share these statements with other LRSs. An LRS can exist on its own, or inside an LMS.

The freedoms of the Tin Can API

• Statement freedom: the structure of “statements” using nouns, verbs and objects lets you record almost any activity. Think: “I did this.”
• History freedom: the Tin Can API allows LRSs to talk to each other. LRSs can share data and transcripts with one another, and your experiences can follow you from one LRS (or organization) to another. Learners can even have their own “personal data lockers” with their personal learning information inside them.
• Device freedom: any enabled device can send Tin Can API statements (mobile phones, simulations, games, a CPR dummy, the list goes on). A constant network connection isn’t necessary — occasional connectivity is fine.
• Workflow freedom: tracking learning events doesn’t have to start or end in an LMS, it can start wherever the learner is and on whatever device they choose to use. Your content isn’t tied to an LMS.

I want to dive deeper

If you want to realize the full implications of the Tin Can API, check out “The Layers of the Tin Can Onion” by Mike Rustici. You can also download the full Tin Can API specification here.

The Tin Can API and Rustici Software

ADL, the keepers ofSCORM, issued a BAA asking for ideas for the next generation of SCORM. We applied, and they asked us to research what the next-generation e-learning specification could/should look like. We then began gathering information about what the next evolution in the e-learning specification world should be in five main buckets:

• The Tin Can User Voice Forum
• Our interviews with key players in the industry
• Our daily contact with Rustici Software customers
• The LETSI SCORM 2.0 white papers
• A list of existing ADL requests

We called this process Project Tin Can because it was meant to be a two-way conversation between us and the e-learning industry. It’s only fitting that the solution be named the Tin Can API – an elegant solution for letting learning systems communicate with one another. Check out a much more detailed explanation of Project Tin Can.

We not only realized the standard, we wrote it. Now that it’s in the community’s hands and actively developed by many developers and businesses, we are more engaged than ever.