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A Timeline of Learning Interoperability Standards

An interactive timeline that places the major standards of computer-based training and learning-data interoperability — AICC, SCORM, LTI, xAPI, Caliper, CMI5, IEEE 9274.1.1, and I2IDL — on a single horizontal axis, color-coded by the family that sponsors them.

Run MicroSim in Fullscreen View the Raw Timeline Data

Overview

This MicroSim is the chapter-1 anchor for the standards landscape. xAPI did not appear on a blank canvas — it inherited a vocabulary (lesson_status, score, completion) from AICC, took a wire-protocol lesson from SCORM, and now lives alongside IMS Caliper, IMS LTI, and CMI5 in a real-world textbook deployment. The timeline lets the reader see all of those pieces at once, filter by sponsoring family, and click any event to read the problem it solved and the standard it succeeded.

Embedding This MicroSim

To embed this timeline in another page, use:

<iframe src="../../sims/learning-standards-timeline/main.html"
        width="100%" height="582" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Adjust the relative path based on the depth of the embedding page.

Learning Objective

The reader can place the major learning standards on a timeline and recognize which family each belongs to.

  • Bloom Level: Remember + Understand (L1 + L2)
  • Bloom Verb: place / recognize
  • Library: vis-timeline 7.x

Features

Interactive Elements

  • Click any event — opens an infobox below the timeline with the full standard name, year, sponsoring organization, the problem it solved, the standard it succeeded (if any), the standard that succeeded it (if any), a plain-English description, and a deep-link to the official spec.
  • Hover any event — shows a quick tooltip with the standard's name and short description.
  • Family filter — five buttons (All / ADL / AICC / IMS / I2IDL) limit the visible bubbles to one family at a time. The active family is highlighted.
  • Keyboard navigation — left/right arrow keys step through events in chronological order. Selecting via keyboard scrolls the timeline to keep the focused event in view.
  • Pan and zoom — use the ◀ / ▶ buttons to pan, + / − to zoom, or Fit All to reset to the full range. Horizontal mouse-wheel also pans; vertical wheel scrolls the page (no scroll hijacking).
  • xAPI emission — selecting any event emits an interacted xAPI statement. The chapter's host page can capture this via a window.xapiSend() function; in standalone mode, statements are logged to the browser console.

Visual Design

  • Color-coded by family — ADL (indigo), AICC (gray), IMS (teal), I2IDL (purple).
  • Edge-event padding ensures the 1988 and 2026 events render cleanly without clipping.
  • Infobox uses an explicit close button; clicking the empty timeline does not dismiss the infobox.

How the xAPI Statement Looks

When the learner clicks the xAPI 1.0 event, the sim emits roughly:

{
  "verb": {
    "id": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/verbs/interacted",
    "display": { "en-US": "interacted" }
  },
  "object": {
    "id": "https://dmccreary.github.io/xapi-course/sims/learning-standards-timeline#xapi-10",
    "definition": {
      "name": { "en-US": "xAPI 1.0" },
      "description": { "en-US": "Experience API published." },
      "type": "http://adlnet.gov/expapi/activities/interaction"
    }
  },
  "result": {
    "extensions": {
      "https://dmccreary.github.io/xapi-course/extensions/family": "ADL",
      "https://dmccreary.github.io/xapi-course/extensions/year":   2013
    }
  }
}

A real chapter wraps this with the actor and a context envelope before sending it to the LRS — see Chapter 3 for the actor/verb/object essentials.

Data Structure

The events live in timeline.json. Each event carries:

Field Purpose
id Stable identifier (used in xAPI object ID and DOM lookups)
year Used to position the event on the axis
headline Short label rendered inside the bubble
family One of ADL, AICC, IMS, I2IDL — controls the color
sponsor Full name of the sponsoring organization
short Tooltip text (one sentence)
problem The problem the standard set out to solve
successor_of Standard this one succeeded (or null)
succeeded_by Standard that succeeded this one (or null)
description Full plain-English paragraph for the infobox
spec_url Deep link to the official spec or canonical source

Customization

Adding a new event

  1. Open timeline.json.
  2. Append a new event object to the events array with all fields above.
  3. Reload — the new bubble appears, color-coded by family.

Changing family colors

Edit the FAMILY_COLORS object near the top of learning-standards-timeline.js and the matching .vis-item.family-* rules in style.css.

Lesson Plan

Step Activity Time
1 Show the full timeline; ask learners to identify the longest gap 2 min
2 Filter to ADL only; ask why SCORM 2004 was followed by Tin Can 3 min
3 Filter to IMS; contrast LTI's launch focus with Caliper's analytics focus 3 min
4 Click xAPI 1.0 and IEEE 9274.1.1; discuss community-spec → IEEE-standard graduation 3 min
5 Click I2IDL founded; explain the open-source-stewardship handoff from ADL 3 min

References