Tech Dive into Tin Can
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History
Concepts: Statements and LRS
API Intro
Statement Essentials
Agents, Verbs, Objects
Context, Result, Extensions
Demo
Getting Started
Q & A

History

SCORM
Project Tin Can (Feb 2012)
Tin Can API 0.9 (June 2012)
Tin Can API 0.95 (October 2012)
See also Mike's Tin Can webinar.

Key Concepts

I Did This
Statements are forever
Anything can make statements about anything
Agents (Actors/Learners) and Activities (Courses) exist independent of any system.
Learning Record Store (LRS)

REST + JSON Web Service

http://tincanapi.com/lrs/statements
http://tincanapi.com/lrs/state
http://tincanapi.com/lrs/activities
http://tincanapi.com/lrs/agents

Tin Can Endpoint

[endpoint]/statements

ex: http://tincanapi.com/lrs/statements

Client Config

Endpoint
Credentials (Basic Auth or OAuth)

JSON refresher

 {
    "simpleProperty":"someSimpleValue",
    "complexProperty":{
        "someOtherProp":"etc",
        "complexity":0.1
    },
    "lastProperty":{
        "arbitrary" : {
            "nesting":{ "is":"allowed" }
        }
    }
}

Simple Statement

David Ells attended 'A Tech Dive into Tin Can'

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "David Ells",
       "mbox": "mailto:david.ells@scorm.com"
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/attended",
         "display": {"en-US": "attended"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://tincanapi.com/activities/tech_dive_webinar",
        "definition":{
            "name": {"en-US": "A Tech Dive into Tin Can"}
        }
    }
}

What are Statements?

The language of Tin Can.
Convey an experience which has occurred.
Usually have a good natural language version.
"Bob completed 'Dive Training 1'" or "Sally experienced 'Solo Hang Gliding'"
These statements aggregate into streams of activity.
These streams can be processed to create analytics.

Statement Structure

Basic Format

[actor] [verb] [object]

[Sally] [experienced] [Solo Hang Gliding]

Statement Structure

Sally experienced "Solo Hang Gliding"

{
    "actor": {
        "name": "Sally",
        "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
     },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
     "object": {
         "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
         "definition": {
             "name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
         }
     }
}

Statement Structure

Core object types: agents and activities
Plenty of properties with standard types: strings, numbers, dates
Unique IDs are used to correlate data
Structure is used to add meaning

The "Why?" of Agents

People are identified in many ways.
Email, OpenID, System Accounts
Learning is becoming person-centric.
Our identities shouldn't be owned.
Persona vs Person

Agent IDs

Email

{
   "name": "Sally",
   "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
}

Open ID

{
   "name": "Sally",
   "openid": "http://sally.openid.example.com"
}

Agent IDs

System Account

Combination of home page and account name is globally unique
Flexible, and important for upconverting SCORM

{
   "name": "Sally",
   "account": [{ 
       "accountServiceHomePage": "http://twitter.com",
       "accountName": "sallyglider434"
   }]
}

Use of URIs

Activies, Activity Types, Verbs, and Extensions
Open vocabulary
Community repositories
Well Known > Published > Private
Avoid collisions and re-use
Full URIs are required
Verbs and Activity types from 0.9 provided by ADL

Activities

"this (object)" is usually an activity
Unique ID, and definition
Defined by an organization or application
Map to well defined real world activities
Examples: course, assessment, webpage, meeting, or any standardized experience
Can even be used for test questions

Activity Structure

Solo Hang Gliding, as defined by example.com

{
    "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
    "definition": {
        "name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
        "description": {
            "en-US": "An assessment of hang gliding skill, consisting of a 20 minute
                      flight from launch point #2 on Mount Magazine. See URL for 
                      additional info."
        }
    }
}

More Activity Structure!

Solo Hang Gliding, from example.com, with internationalization

{
  "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
  "definition": {
    "type":"http://adlnet.gov/expapi/activities/course",
    "name": { 
        "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding",
        "es":"Solo Ala Delta"
     },
     "description": {
         "en-US":"The 'Solo Hang Gliding' course provided by The Hang Glider's Club",
         "es":"El curso de 'Solo Ala Delta' siempre por el Club de Planeadores Hang"
     }
}

Verbs

Identified by unique URI, open vocabulary
Verb IDs map to a meaning, not a word (fired)
Opens "object" up to be real objects
Adds new ways to express activity through statements

{
    "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
    "display": {"en-US":"completed" }
}

ADL verbs guaranteed for interoperability
Interoperability == Coordination

Verb vs Activity

Sally experienced 'Solo Hang Gliding at Mount Magazine'

{
    "actor": {
        "name": "Sally Glider",
        "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
     },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
     "object": {
		"id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding-Mt-Magazine",
				"definition": {
					"name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
				}
		}
	}
}

Verb vs Activity

Sally hang-glided Mount Magazine

{
    "actor": {
        "name": "Sally",
        "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
     },
     "verb": {
        "id":"http://example.com/verbs/hang-glided",
        "display": {"en-US":"hang-glided" }
     },
     "object": {
         "id": "http://example.com/objects/mount-magazine",
         "definition": {
             "name": { "en-US": "Mount Magazine" }
         }
     }
}

Verb vs Activity

Make sure object is always well defined
Isolate what matters
Separate elements become pivots for data

{
    "actor": {
        "name": "Sally",
        "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
     },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
     "object": {
         "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
         "definition": {
             "name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
         }
     }
}

Statements, Round 2

Context
Result
Extensions
Timestamp and Stored
Authority

[authority] asserts [actor] [verb] [object] in [context] with [result]

Context

The setting or circumstances under which a statement occurs. Context is the context of the statement.
Can include things like:
- Instructor
- Team
- A Broader Activity or Setting
- Platform
- Registration

Context

"Sally took the ‘Solo Hang Gliding’ course, under the instruction of Irene, as part of Hang Gliding Class A"

{
    "actor": { "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com" },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
    "object": { "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding" },
    "context": {
        "instructor": {
            "name": "Irene",
            "mbox": "mailto:irene@example.com"
         },
         "contextActivities":{
             "parent": { 
                "id": "http://example.com/activities/hang-gliding-class-a" 
             }
         }
    }
}

Context

"Sally watched the ‘Solo Hang Gliding Refresher’ video on her fancy iPhone

{
    "actor": { 
        "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com" 
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
    "object": { 
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding-refresher" 
        "definition":{
            "type":"
	http://adlnet.gov/expapi/activities/media",
            "name":{ "en-US":"Solo Hang Gliding Refresher" },
            "description": {
                "en-US":"A short refresher on Hang Gliding"
            }
    },
    "context": {
        "platform": "iPhone OS 6_0"
    }
}

Result

A measured outcome, associated with a statement
Completion
Success
Score
Duration
Look familiar?

Result

"Sally completed ‘Solo Hang Gliding’ with a passing score of 95%"

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
         "display": {"en-US": "completed"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding"
    },
    "result": {
        "completion": true,
        "success": true,
        "score": {
            "scaled": 0.95
        }
    }
}

Result

"Sally completed ‘Solo Hang Gliding’ with a failing score of 2 out of 6"

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
         "display": {"en-US": "completed"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding"
    },
    "result": {
        "completion": true,
        "success": false,
        "score": {
            "min": 0,
            "max": 6,
            "raw": 2
        }
    }
}

Result

"Sally completed ‘Solo Hang Gliding’ and passed, in 4 hours"

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
         "display": {"en-US": "completed"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding"
    },
    "result": {
        "completion": true,
        "success": true,
        "duration": "PT4H"
    }
}

Result

"Sally answered ‘Question A’ with the correct response 'B', in 8 seconds"

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/answered",
         "display": {"en-US": "answered"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/questions/question-a"
    },
    "result": {
        "success": true,
        "response": "B",
        "duration": "PT8S"
    }
}

Extensions

Context, Results, and Activity Definitions can be extended
Key (URI) / value pairs
Provides a way to extend for some specialized use
Core statement should always remain meaningful
Pick the right place for your extension

Extensions

{
    "actor": { "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com" },
     "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
         "display": {"en-US": "completed"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding"
    },
    "result": {
        "completion": true,
        "success": true,
        "extensions": {
            "http://example.com/metersClimbed": 500
        }
    },
    "context": {
        "extensions": {
            "http://example.com/wind_gusts": { "knots" : 17 }
        }
    }
}

Timestamp and Stored

Timestamp is when the event happened, stored is when the LRS knew about it.

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
        "definition": {
            "name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
        }
    },
    "timestamp" : "2012-09-27T19:45:29.115Z",
    "stored" : "2012-09-27T22:48:29.828Z"
}

Authority

Irene asserts that Sally completed 'Solo Hang Gliding'

{
    "authority": {
        "name": "Irene",
        "mbox": "mailto:irene@example.com"
    },
    "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
         "display": {"en-US": "completed"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
        "definition": {
            "name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
        }
    }
}

Authority

Hang Glider App asserts that Sally completed 'Solo Hang Gliding'

{
    "authority": {
        "name": "Hang Glider App",
        "account": [{ 
            "accountServiceHomePage": "http://glider-club.example.com",
            "accountName": "glider-app"
        }]
    },
    "actor": {
       "name": "Sally",
       "mbox": "mailto:sally@example.com"
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/completed",
         "display": {"en-US": "completed"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://example.com/activities/solo-hang-gliding",
        "definition": {
            "name": { "en-US": "Solo Hang Gliding" }
        }
    }
}

Give it a try!

tincanapi.com
Developers - Resources - Statement Generator

{
   "actor": {
       "name": "Your Name",
       "mbox": "mailto:your-email@example.com"
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/attended",
         "display": {"en-US": "attended"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://tincanapi.com/activities/tech_dive_webinar"
    }
}

Give it a try!

tincanapi.com
Developers - Resources - Bookmarklet

Drag Link To Bookmarks Bar
Surf!

{
    "actor": {
        "mbox": "mailto:david.ells@scorm.com",
    },
    "verb": {
         "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/experienced",
         "display": {"en-US": "experienced"}
         },
    "object": {
        "id": "http://news.ycombinator.com/",
        "definition": {
            "name": { "en-US": "Hacker News" }
        }
    }
}

Getting Started

tincanapi.com/developers/resources/
Adopters: tincanapi.com/what-is-tin-can/adopters/
Get Involved: tincan.adlnet.gov/
ADL Verbs & Activity Types: http://tincanapi.wikispaces.com/ADL+Experience+API+Companion+Document
Version 1.0 to be released spring 2013

Tech Dive into Tin Can(Use arrows to navigate.)

History

Key Concepts

REST + JSON Web Service

Tin Can Endpoint

Client Config

JSON refresher

Simple Statement

What are Statements?

Statement Structure

Statement Structure

Statement Structure

The "Why?" of Agents

Agent IDs

Agent IDs

Use of URIs

Activities

Activities

Activity Structure

More Activity Structure!

Verbs

Verb vs Activity

Verb vs Activity

Verb vs Activity

Verb vs Activity

Statements, Round 2

Context

Context

Context

Result

Result

Result

Result

Result

Extensions

Extensions

Timestamp and Stored

Authority

Authority

Give it a try!

Give it a try!

Getting Started

Tech Dive into Tin Can
(Use arrows to navigate.)