Watershed can receive data from any Learning Record Provider following the xAPI specification and then display that data in a range of flexible reports, giving you actionable insights into the performance of your learners and learning materials.
Not all Learning Record Providers are equal.
Some Learning Record Providers (LRPs)—formerly known as “Activity Providers”—send more useful data than others. For example, one xAPI-conformant e-learning course might simply record that learners completed a course. Another course, however, might send detailed records of learners’ interactions within the course, including how they answered questions and scored and how long it took to complete the course.
While both of these LRPs will work with Watershed, you’ll get more insight out of the one that sends more data. (NOTE: Be aware that a minority of LRPs send technically conformant, but confusing data.)
Get started with data sources.
So how do you know which LRPs produce the best xAPI data that result in the best Watershed reports? We’ve put together a list of Certified Watershed Data Sources that we’ve tested and confirmed send good data. For each data source, we’ve included instructions for configuring both the data source and Watershed for optimal results.
Keep in mind, this list is just a start. There are many LRPs that will work well with Watershed, which we hope to test soon. If you have any questions about these products or think your product should be on our list, let us know and we’ll be in touch soon.
Lectora
Lectora’s xAPI implementation offers flexibility not found in other authoring tools, while at the same time sending useful statements with default settings. We’ve tested the latest version of Lectora Online, and the data works great with Watershed. Dive into detailed question analysis of quizzes, rank learner performance by score and time taken, and explore correlations between repeating the course and assessment success. Here’s how.
RISC VTA
The RISC VTA LMS offers tracking of events—such as registering for, launching, completing, passing, and failing lessons. RISC VTA LMS will also generate xAPI tracking data from SCORM courses. The quality and completeness of this translated SCORM tracking data depends on the quality and completeness of data sent by the original SCORM course.
The PDF annotator tool (launched from RISC VTA LMS) offers a way for learners to markup PDF documents with notes, underlines, highlights, and other annotations. These annotations are stored in a Learning Record Store, such as Watershed, and can be shared across devices and reported on in order to evaluate both the PDF documents themselves and learner engagement with the documents. Here’s how to set it up.
SCORM Cloud
Many organizations moving to xAPI have libraries of existing e-learning content published following SCORM or AICC specifications. SCORM Cloud automatically translates SCORM data into xAPI statements that can be pulled into Watershed for reporting and analytics alongside your data from other sources. Remember, the xAPI data is only as good as the SCORM data your courses produced. You’ll only see the data in Watershed if it’s sent by the course. Here’s how to set it up.
Storyline
Articulate Storyline was one of the first authoring tools to support the prerelease version of the xAPI specification. There have been some important changes in Storyline’s xAPI tracking since then, and courses published in Storyline version 2.5 and higher (and have been configured correctly) work well with Watershed. Dive into detailed question analysis of quizzes, rank learner performance by score, and time taken as well as explore correlations between repeating the course and assessment success. Here’s how.
xapiapps
xapiapps is a collection of applications used to record job performance observations and attendance at events. You can track real-world experiences for analysis alongside your training data. Both the performance observation and attendance checklist can be reported on in Watershed, enabling you to dive into the detail of observation performance for groups of learners and individuals, monitor attendance at events, or rank learners based on observation scores. Here’s how to set it up.
[Editor's Note: This blog post has been updated for comprehensiveness.]
About the author
As one of the authors of xAPI, Andrew Downes has years of expertise in data-driven learning design. With a background in instructional design and development, he’s well versed in creating learning experiences and platforms in corporate and academic environments.
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