What is xAPI?
Also called: Experience API · Tin Can APIDefinition
xAPI (Experience API, originally called the Tin Can API) is an e-learning data standard from the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, first released as version 1.0 in 2013. It records learning activity as JSON statements in the form actor, verb, object, such as “Priya completed Fire Safety Simulation”, and sends them to a learning record store (LRS). Unlike SCORM, xAPI can track activity outside a browser and outside an LMS, including mobile apps, simulations, offline learning and on-the-job tasks.
Every xAPI statement has at least an actor (who), a verb (what they did, identified by a URI such as http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed) and an object (what they did it to), and can add a result (score, success, duration), context and a timestamp. Statements are sent over HTTP to a learning record store, which stores them and lets other systems query them. Because any system can send statements, xAPI can join up data from e-learning, virtual classrooms, simulators, coaching apps and workplace systems.
For corporate L&D, the value is evidence beyond course completion: practice attempts, simulation decisions, performance-support use and observed behaviour. The cost is design work. xAPI only produces useful data when you decide in advance which verbs and activities matter, often through an xAPI profile, and someone analyses the result. Version 1.0.3 is the most widely deployed release, and xAPI 2.0 was published as IEEE standard 9274.1.1 in 2023.
Common mistakes: treating xAPI as a drop-in replacement for SCORM (it defines no packaging or launch on its own, which is why cmi5 exists); collecting thousands of statements with no question to answer; and buying an LRS before deciding what to measure. Bodhih LMS supports xAPI in its Scale band; an embedded learning record store is on the roadmap.
Key points
- Published by ADL; version 1.0 released in 2013; formerly the Tin Can API.
- Statements follow actor, verb, object, with optional result and context, in JSON.
- Statements are stored in a learning record store (LRS).
- Tracks learning outside the browser and outside the LMS.
- Needs a measurement plan or xAPI profile to produce useful data.
An example at work
A Chennai logistics firm runs a forklift safety simulator in its warehouses. Each run sends xAPI statements such as “Ravi failed reversing check, score 62” to a learning record store, so supervisors can see who needs another practice session before certification, data a SCORM course could not capture.
Where this is used at Bodhih
Related terms
Learning record store
A learning record store (LRS) is a database, defined by the xAPI specification, that receives, stores and returns xAPI statements about learning activity.
cmi5
cmi5 is an xAPI profile that defines how an LMS imports, launches and tracks courses, combining SCORM-style packaging and launch with xAPI data.
SCORM
SCORM is a set of technical standards that lets e-learning content packaged by one tool run and report progress inside any compliant learning management system.
Learning management system
A learning management system (LMS) is software that delivers, assigns, tracks and reports on training, from e-learning courses to classroom sessions and certifications.
Learning experience platform
A learning experience platform (LXP) is software that helps people discover learning content through recommendations, search and curation, rather than through assignment.
More about xAPI
What is the difference between SCORM and xAPI?
SCORM packages a course and tracks completion, score and time while it runs in a browser launched by an LMS. xAPI records any learning activity as statements sent to a learning record store, from any device or system, online or offline. SCORM is about portable courses; xAPI is about portable learning data.
Does xAPI replace SCORM?
Not on its own. xAPI defines how learning data is recorded and stored but not how a course is packaged or launched by an LMS. The cmi5 specification adds those rules on top of xAPI. In practice most organisations run SCORM and xAPI side by side.
Do I need a learning record store to use xAPI?
Yes. xAPI statements must be sent to a learning record store (LRS). Some LMSs include one, others connect to a standalone LRS. Without an LRS, statements have nowhere to go and cannot be queried or reported.