Most learning platforms can tell you whether a course was completed. Far fewer can tell you whether it worked. In practice, the difference is often spelled xAPI, the standard that can turn learning data into something more than a tick in a list when measurement is designed well.
From "completed" to "what happened?"
Classic SCORM reports status and scores, inside the LMS. xAPI instead describes events as statements with actor, verb and object. "Anna finished watching module 3." "Johan chose the wrong option on question 2, twice." "The team looked up the checklist on their phones out on the production floor." The statements are collected in an LRS (Learning Record Store), and because they can be sent from any source you capture learning outside the LMS as well: in apps, in simulations and in the flow of work.
Questions you can suddenly answer
Where do participants drop off, and is it the same place for everyone? Which film segments are replayed again and again and may therefore be unclear? Which questions are systematically misunderstood and reveal a misconception in the organisation rather than in the individual? Is support material used in day-to-day work or only during training? With a little more analysis you can also see whether completed training correlates with fewer support tickets, a lower error rate or fewer incidents.
Start with the questions, not the technology
It is easy to collect large amounts of data, but considerably harder to turn it into useful insights. Start by identifying the most important questions the business wants answered and measure what actually helps you answer them. When data collection is driven by clear goals, the results are easier to interpret and far more valuable.
What it can look like
Imagine training ahead of a new business system where one of the modules is replayed far more often than the others. That shows the content likely needs to be clarified. After the module has been updated with better examples, the number of support questions about that particular step goes down. Without that kind of follow-up the training would have looked equally successful on paper, even though an important problem had gone unnoticed.
When is simpler measurement enough?
Not every training needs to be followed up with advanced analysis. For a smaller one-off training where the results are not the basis for important decisions, completion rate and quiz results can be fully sufficient. When the training effort is extensive, the audience large or the requirements for traceability high — for example in compliance — xAPI provides a considerably better decision basis and documentation that can be valuable in an audit, for instance.
We build xAPI follow-up regardless of where the training lives — in your learning platform, in your business systems or in our own products, where Create, Learn and Program report to the same data store. If you want better insights into your training, we are happy to help identify the most important questions and build follow-up that answers them.