xAPI

xAPI (Experience API, also known as the Tin Can API) is a modern e-learning standard that records learning activity as statements: "person X performed action Y in context Z." xAPI works not only inside an LMS but anywhere people learn: VR simulations, mobile apps, workplace tools, on-the-job experience. The data is stored in a Learning Record Store (LRS).

SCORM only records whether somebody completed a module. xAPI records what they did inside it: which decisions they took, where they hesitated, how many attempts it needed, how they responded in a scenario. For safety-critical roles in industry, that behavioural data is far more valuable than a completion status.

VR simulations for emergency procedures, scenario training for rare incidents, augmented reality work instructions: all of these modern training formats generate rich behavioural data that SCORM cannot capture. With xAPI, an HSE manager can see how an operator responds in a fire scenario. Did they react too late, did they skip a step, did they have to repeat the simulation? That data makes coaching targeted and demonstrable.