LMS glossary
xAPI (Tin Can)
xAPI, also called the Experience API or Tin Can, is an eLearning standard for recording learning activity as simple statements such as “Sam completed Fire Safety”. Unlike SCORM, it can track learning outside the LMS, including mobile apps, simulations and offline activity, and stores statements in a learning record store (LRS).
Why it matters
xAPI can capture far more than course completions: individual interactions, practice in a simulator, or learning that happens away from a browser. That makes richer learning analytics possible.
How it works
Content or apps send statements in an actor–verb–object format to a learning record store. An LMS that supports xAPI can launch xAPI packages and use the statements to update progress and completion.
Common pitfalls
Collecting lots of statements with no plan for using them. Start with the questions you need answered, then decide what to track.