So You’re Ready to Use xAPI—Now What?

How to start small, think smart, and actually make xAPI work for your learning design.

Originally posted on Substack

Alright, we’re ready to embrace xAPI. We’ve been on this journey together for four posts so far. But here’s the real question: where do we begin?

The good news is that nobody needs to get a computer science degree to start using xAPI effectively. The better news? With the right mindset, anyone can start small, iterate wisely, and build something that makes learning experiences smarter.

1. Define What You Actually Want to Know

xAPI opens all the doors, but that doesn’t mean that we should try to walk through every single one. Trying to track everything can be a huge mistake. Instead, we should begin with one high-value question:

• Do people use our job aids? And when?

• Which part of our onboarding process loses the most engagement?

• Are case studies more effective than quizzes?

Start with that question. Then track the behaviors that answer it. xAPI isn’t about the quantity of data. It’s about the quality of insight.

2. Choose Your Toolset Thoughtfully

Two tools are essential when starting to use xAPI statements. The first is a tool that can send xAPI statements, and many modern authoring tools support this. The second is a Learning Record Store (LRS) to receive and store those statements. Tools like Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and Elucidat can publish to xAPI. LRS options range from free open-source tools to enterprise platforms like Watershed.

Pro tip: test your statements in a sandbox LRS before rolling out widely. That’s where you’ll see if your verbs make sense or if they clutter your data.

3. Use Existing xAPI Profiles

xAPI’s flexibility is both a huge superpower, but also a huge downfall if you aren’t smart. We need standards. Watched a video can look different in every system. Thankfully, xAPI profiles, like cmi5, provide structured vocabularies.

Whenever possible, it’s great to adopt cmi5, so data can communicate across systems. If you decide to go with custom xAPI statements, just make sure to document your rules well and stick to them.

4. Validate Your Statements

Use validators to check that your xAPI statements are correctly structured JSON. Many LRS dashboards let you view and troubleshoot incoming statements. Look for weirdness:

• Are the verbs accurate?

• Are objects clearly named?

• Are you accidentally logging the same event ten times?

A well-structured xAPI statement doesn’t just record an event. It tells a story.

5. Beware These Tempting Mistakes

Over-instrumentation: Every button click does not need a statement. Only track meaningful decisions.

Forgetting your audience: If your stakeholders never look at xAPI dashboards, make the insights accessible. Consider visuals, summaries, or scheduled reports.

Neglecting privacy: If you’re logging personal identifiers, think about consent, anonymization, and security protocols.

6. Build the Habit of Review

Make sure to make a habit of reviewing your xAPI data. Maybe monthly to ask:

• What are we learning?

• What’s unclear?

• What can we improve?

Then act on it. Share your learnings. Make design tweaks. Let the data breathe into your workflow.

Start Small. Stay Curious. Scale with Purpose.

The best xAPI implementations don’t start with massive dashboards. They start with a single question and a willingness to improve. So open up that first project and add one or two statements. Watch what happens.

It’s not magic. But it might just change everything.

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Next in the series: From Clicks to Context: The Developer’s Guide to Crafting Smart xAPI Statements