Learning Technology and Digital Tools
What to know
Learning technology spans LMS/LXP platforms, authoring tools, virtual classrooms, assessment engines, and analytics. Key standards: SCORM (older packaging/tracking), xAPI (Experience API-tracks learning anywhere, stores statements in an LRS), LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability-integrates external tools), and QTI (question/test interoperability). Blended learning combines modalities; flipped models move first exposure to pre-work.
Data and analytics drive decisions: completion, time-on-task, item analysis (difficulty, discrimination), and learning record stores. Consider privacy (data minimization, consent), security (access control, encryption), and interoperability (avoiding vendor lock-in). Mobile and microlearning suit spaced delivery. AI tools can generate content and feedback but require human review for accuracy and bias.
Traps
Questions often confuse SCORM with xAPI (xAPI is more flexible and not tied to a single LMS session) or LTI with SCORM (LTI integrates tools; SCORM packages content). Another trap: assuming more analytics is always better-data minimization and purpose limitation are ethical requirements. Watch for treating synchronous virtual classrooms as equivalent to asynchronous self-paced modules, and for assuming any tool is accessible by default.
Rule of thumb
Choose the standard by the need: packaging content → SCORM; tracking diverse experiences across systems → xAPI/LRS; plugging an external tool into an LMS → LTI. Worked example: a simulation used across a hospital's intranet and mobile app needs cross-system tracking → xAPI with an LRS, not SCORM.