The Evolution of eLearning

According to industry experts, “corporate eLearning has grown by approximately 900% in the
past decade (2018). As corporate organizations devoted their time, money, and energy to expand
their influence, the world has quickly adopted the eLearning option and took it as a great
alternative to the expensive, mainstream option.” (Joomlalms.com)
In fact, the availability of online education has proven to be a true game-changer for the way in
which everyone can and will acquire skills, certifications, and knowledge management. The call
for greater creativity and innovative approach to design and delivery is already attracting many
individuals to this ever-expanding field. As a result, learners benefit from easy-to-access and
easy-to-learn courses.
There are six primary areas of impact that should be considered in the overall development of an
eLearning platform. (Excerpted from Joomlalms.com)
1. Gamification
Most people confuse the concept of gamification with the concept of gaming. In fact,
these two terms have a completely different meaning. Gamification is the practice of
wrapping up non-game contexts into game theories and mechanics.
For example, most games present either a “journey”, a “quest”, a possibility to raise your
level/rank/performance/status, and so on, and more than often, it’s that progression that
makes the game more challenging.
For an organized eLearning system, you must think the same way. There must be a
journey and a purpose. The entire material should be organized in an inspiring,
entertaining, or challenging way, so the users will feel engaged to “play” more.
Therefore, they’ll obviously learn and grow more.
2. Video Learning
It’s predicted that by the end of 2019, 80% of the entire digital web traffic across the
entire world will be represented by video content. Almost every social media network
prioritizes video content over any other type of media content such as texts, pictures, or
graphics.
Video learning should be present in courses as it’s a terrific opportunity to improve the
overall experience of the learner. Visual learning is extremely important and effective if
implemented well, as it can help learners perceive problems from different angles.
3. Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
AR (augmented reality) improves the learning experience by allowing learners to
experiment with various tasks through a simulation. This allows the learner to improve
 their expertise and become more capable and readier to perform real-life tasks e.g.
doctors and surgeries, bomb diffusers, etc.) Software simulations are a great example of
this type of learning. Watching the video and then immediately applying the knowledge
is one of the fastest methods of deploying any kind of software training.
VR has the same uses and more. The learner can fully engage in a completely different
environment where they can focus on the educational task at hand. This type of learning
can incorporate various equipment that provides a 3D presentation of events from which
the learning can have a “hands-on” simulated approach.
4. Mobile Learning
Mobile learning is a trend born by the huge smartphone trend that has taken the world by
storm for a few good years now. Everyone carries a smartphone that can connect to the
internet, and most people can play videos or access courses through their phones. This
leaves room for huge opportunities, and there are already a big majority of people
(mostly millennials) who use their phones to learn.
5. Personalized Learning
Learners want to establish their own style and pace of learning, so developers need to
personalize the experience to bring them closer to the big purpose. Not everyone benefits
from class-room, instructor-led training. And today’s learner is used to receiving
information in bite-sized formats, so it’s important to also create and deliver their training
in efficient, highly-engaging, bite-size modules.
6. Content Curation
“Find the individuals who are best in their fields and curate the best content from each
source. Put it all together, create an order or a sequence, and present it to your learners.
You WILL be surprised at how well your learners are going to take it!” – Mark Hartwell,
CEO at EssayGeeks.co.uk.
Content curation is a very productive way of giving learners the best out of the best.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of incorporating a video or other type of presentation into a
course, from an expert in the field, that provides tremendous value to their entire content.
 Experience API (xAPI) for eLearning

(Excerpted from ATD.org/magazines/what-is-xapi)

Think about all the ways that your learners acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities. They attend
classes, take e-learning courses, practice, read books, talk with mentors, practice, troubleshoot
their errors with experienced peers, share information on social media, practice some more, and
finally master what they set out to learn.
Historically, the only part of this process that talent development professionals can track is
whether learners showed up to class or passed their e-learning course. If you subscribe to the 70-
20-10 model of learning, think of it this way: Most talent development teams cannot track
learning by experience (70 percent) or learning from others like mentors or peers (20 percent) in
any meaningful way. We're limited to measuring the formal learning experiences (10 percent)
that are recorded in the learning management system.
But now, a new technology specification offers the ability to track up to 100 percent of learning
experiences. How is this possible? Let us explain.
xAPI is a simple, lightweight way to store and retrieve records about learners and share these
data across platforms. These records (known as activity statements) can be captured in a
consistent format from any number of sources (known as activity providers) and they are
aggregated in a learning record store (LRS).
The x in xAPI is short for "experience," and implies that these activity providers are not just
limited to traditional e-learning. With xAPI you can track classroom activities, usage of
performance support tools, participation in online communities, mentoring discussions,
performance assessment, and actual business results. The goal is to create a full picture of an
individual's learning experience and how that relates to his or her performance.
API stands for application programming interface, a common method for software systems to
interact and share data. xAPI activity statements can be generated by activity providers and sent
to the LRS, or they can be sent from the LRS to other systems. Many current applications offer
APIs to make their data available in other systems, and vice versa.
An xAPI activity statement records experiences in an "I did this" format. The format specifies
the actor (who did it), a verb (what was done), a direct object (what it was done to) and a variety
of contextual data, including score, rating, language, and almost anything else you want to track.
Some learning experiences are tracked with a single activity statement. In other instances,
dozens, if not hundreds, of activity statements can be generated during the course of a learning
experience. Activity statements are up to the instructional designer and are driven by the need for
granularity in reporting.
Incorporating the ability to generate learner activity through xAPI statements provides an option
to track a learner’s progress which can be used to determine skillsets and certification
requirements. In addition, these statements can be stored into a hosted Learning Record Store
(LRS) system, offering additional portability of data into other services, including reporting
platforms or another LRS system.
The utilization of LRS’s to track learning activities is not limited to online courses. Indeed, all
types of training acquired by a learner can be captured into these records and reported. Imagine
watching a YouTube or Vimeo how-to video or attending a conference or even participation in a
particular online discussion thread. Consider the time that is logged during an on-the-job
training experience with a mentor. When each of these activities occurs, an xAPI statement can
be sent to the LRS. The possibilities are endless!