xAPI for Interactive eBooks

For years I have been teaching designers anddevelopers how to create interactive eBooks. One of the questions I get mostoften is whether they can be tracked and how. This is often becauseorganizations have standardized on running their eLearning solutions through alearning management system (LMS) and tracking usage through their platforms’reporting tools.

With the increase in industry adoption of xAPIand cmi5, there are now many options for free or low-cost learning record store(LRS) platforms that have the ability to connect with the organization’s LMS.This infrastructure supports the collection of micro-level data on users’interaction with content.

I was excited about the possibilities thisafforded designers and developers, because we can now access data to help uspaint the picture of how our learners use interactive eBooks. We can capturepage views, link clicks, video launches, highlights, and quiz results, just toname a few.

Where should you start?

I highly recommendlearning some xAPI basics first. The site LearnxAPI.com is a good place to start with free, self-pacedcourses. Also, Torrance Learning periodically hosts a free, 12-week xAPI cohort where you can participate in the development of a project. There are alsomany articles now available on the subject, including this one by Andy Johnson, Jason Haag, and Steve Foreman,and this one by Anthony Altieri, both in Learning Solutions Magazine.

For a morespecific example, I developed an interactive eBook that you can download freeat melearningsolutions.com/resources. You can use this file to view and replicatesimilar functionality.

Developing the interactive eBook with xAPI

First, you need the tools to build theinteractive eBook. My favorite tools are the free, open-source tool Sigiland Apple’s free iBooks Author application. From there,incorporating xAPI statements is a fairly simple process of adding JavaScriptto the eBook’s code and pointing those statements to the organization’s LRS.You need to be able to replicate some very basic HTML and JavaScript in youreBook files, as well as acquire and set up an LRS to collect the statements.There are many free and low-cost open-source LRS platforms available today.Additionally, some LMS vendors are making an LRS available as part of theirproduct.

Step 1:Create the eBook in an EPUB format (in Sigil oranother EPUB development tool).

Step 2:Open the EPUB in Sigil and use code view to addappropriate JavaScript where you want a specific action to trigger a statement.

Here is an example of the code used to showthat a page has been viewed. You can copy and paste this, then edit as needed. 

var pageLaunchStatement = {				actor: actor,				verb: {					id: "https://activitystrea.ms/schema/1.0/open",					display: {"en-US": "opened"}				},				target: {					id: "https://www.testing.com", 					definition: {						name: {"en-US": "Designing for Data Page"},						description: {"en-US": "designing for data page"}				}			} }			tincan.sendStatement(pageLaunchStatement); 

Figure 1 shows how the code looks in Sigil, and in Figure 2 you can see how the information appears in the LRS.

Figure 1: Code view in Sigil

Figure 2: Statement details inLRS

Step 3:Add the JavaScript files for the xAPI wrapper and thecommon files to Sigil to define the LRS credentials.

In Figure 3, you’ll notice the JavaScriptfiles used; tincan.js is a JavaScript file that defines the xAPI library ofcode. This file was developed by Rustici Software, but Advanced DistributedLearning (ADL) has a standardized version available on Github.

The common.js file is used to define the LRScredentials.

Figure 3: JavaScript files addedto the Misc folder in Sigil 

Testing and deploying the eBook

Once you have created your interactive eBookand added your xAPI statements and JavaScript files, be sure to test it invarious eReader applications. Verify that statements are being reported to yourLRS. This should happen in real time.

Some well-known eReaders do block xAPIstatements. These include the app version of Apple iBooks (the desktop versionwill report statements), Adobe Digital Editions, and Nook. However, there areseveral others that report without issue. These include Overdrive, Kobo, andiBooks (desktop). I recommend testing your eBook from a variety of eReaders,then making a recommendation to your users (providing a link to download the recommendedapp in case they don’t already have it).

Evaluation

I recommend creating reports from your LRSdata to regularly evaluate user interactions with your eBook. Keep in mind thatthis is only one data point, and it should be used to provide context to otherdata you are collecting, such as performance data and/or user feedback.

Interactive eBooks are an exciting way to addvalue to your performance support and training documentation. Combine thisapproach with xAPI, and learn more about your audience so that you can continueto improve the quality of your products!

From the editor

Join SarahGilbert and other mobile eLearning design experts at DevLearn 2017Conference & Expo, October 25 – 27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hundreds ofsessions explore best practices for creating engaging mobile learning,designing outstanding learner experiences, and much more. Gilbert will present“xAPI Basics for Mobile Learning” on October 27.