From ADL Team Member… Andy Johnson: Tin Can Verbs From Scratch

Andy Johnson

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Mr. Johnson has been working with Distributed Learning for over 10 years. He has been involved with the SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) since 2000, much of the time directly supporting its development as a part of the ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) Initiative. He has also architected content structures supporting SCORM for various government projects, most notably the first JKDDC (Joint Knowledge Development and Distribution Capability) courses and a series of Pharmacy Technician Training courses designed for the services by the VA. He currently has the role of Senior Systems Engineer as a part of the ADL Program. Mr. Johnson has also worked closely with the Un...

As a contractor with Problem Solutions, Andy provides support to the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of ADL.

After the original Tin Can API Verb List was delivered to ADL as a part of  Project Tin Can, a response to a BAA put forth by ADL to investigate potential APIs for the Next Generation of SCORM, I purposely deprived myself from reading that part of the specification because I wanted to create my own verb list as an exercise.  I drew from my experiences both in the professional and academic world.  

My goal in creating the verb list that follows was inspired by words in the original specification of creating a list that a verb list should be complete and not redundant. It has undergone a couple minor revisions in the time prior to the Tin Can API Working Group thanks to contributions from other ADL Team members.

So I present, for critique, the “complete” list of “tracking verbs” (Read my other blog post on this topic to see how I distinguish between the two types of verbs). 

 “Additional parameters” as shown in the table are those that take on arguments other than an activity or are themselves part of an activity.  Please note that “activity” is defined pretty broadly- it can be a game instance, a question, a virtual item, a file, a picture, etc.
Name (Bold Entries are Categories) Additional Parameters Usage
Generic Tracking   These terms are used to track any type of experience.  Origination, participation, completion, and success are all possible measured attributes.
Experienced None A catch-all term to say that someone viewed, listened to, read, etc. some form of content.  There is no assumption of completion or success.
Assigned Actor Authoritatively determines an activity that should be experienced or attempted.  The authority could be the system or another person.
Participated In None Some training, activities, or other events may have direct participation and not just an “experience”.  For example a live training exercise could be experienced by onlookers, but participated in by students.
Attempted None Used at the initiation of many “experienced” activities to mark the entry. Attempts without further verbs are likely incomplete.
Completed None Used to indicate that something has been finished in its entirety. Things that are attempted but not completed or experienced are assumed to be incomplete.
Passed None Indicates the satisfaction of whatever requirements needed to “pass” the content, typically a score above a threshold.
Failed None Indicates that the content (or possibly an objective) was taken and failed (as opposed to passed)
Assessment/Objective/Achievement Tracking   These terms track individual questions, assessments, objectives, and achievements (i.e. badges).
Answered None Shows the learner response to a particular question, could also be used with “correctly” or “incorrectly” as responses to the actual answer.
Scored Number Shows the learner grade to a specific question or set of questions
Satisfied Objective Shows the satisfaction of an objective linked to the user’s experience.
Mastered Objective, Level When multiple levels of mastery exist for the same objective, mastered can be used along with some form of taxonomy (1-10?)
Achieved Achievement
or Badge		 Can be used generically, but is targeted towards badge/achievement systems.  If disambiguation is needed, “earned” could be used instead.
Multiple Participant Experiences   These experiences directly involve interactions between persons or multiple persons within a system.  At times one party may be simulated.  Virtual worlds, games, simulations, training exercises, and other types are included.
Challenged Actor Initiation of an activity specifically against another person or team.  Could also loosely be used as “invited”.
Accepted None Many interactions with other actors will need to be accepted or declined.
Declined None Many interactions with other actors will need to be accepted or declined.
Initiated None Used to create an event that eventually expects participants, an open challenge for multiple actors.
Joined None Used to show the process of joining the event (happens prior to participated in, which happens at conclusion of the event)
Won None Used in the context of a game, simulation, etc that has a clear winner or loser to the contest.
Lost None Used in the context of a game, simulation, etc that has a clear winner or loser to the contest.
Tied None Used in the context of a game, simulation, etc that has a clear winner or loser to the contest in the condition of a tie.
Social Media Experiences   These experiences are typically found in social outlets such as Facebook or Twitter, but also expand to the sharing of resources within a more rigid structure.
Posted None Indicates that something was placed.  A generic term that derives meaning from context (i.e posting to facebook, a forum, and a file share are very different things)
Commented None Indicates the “posting” of a text message, but in regards to a specific experience, whereas “posted” messages, etc. may not respond to something specific.
Tagged Actor, Etc. A catch-all term for applying properties or attributes to an experience.  This is different from a comment in that it is expected that agreed-upon terms and/or actors are used. 
Messaged Actor A generic form of communication between two or more actors or groups.  Some level of privacy is assumed in this verb.
Created None In experiences where content, artifacts, etc. can be created, this verb is used
Shared None Generic term indicated the unlocking of privacy – largely derived from context
Deleted None Opposite to “created”
Unshared None Opposite to “shared”
Submitted None Depending on the context, can be similar to “shared”, but indicating a more complete state.  Can also assume the process of telling the instructor that the learner is “done”.
Modified None Once something is shared or submitted, changes or edits to it are shown by this verb.  Can take on many other contexts as well. 
Virtual Marketplace   Some rich platforms may have economies of their own that generate experiences.  These could also be used as functions that may typically be done by a brokering system for apps or learning content such as eBooks.
Bought None In a virtual marketplace experience with virtual goods, it is possible to buy and sell.
Sold None In a virtual marketplace experience with virtual goods, it is possible to buy and sell.
Recommended None Using an “Amazon-like” technology, experiences can come recommended from the system or actors.  This is the non-authoritative version of “assigned”
Rated None Uses a scale to rate an experience, transaction.  1-10 scale?
Listed None Initiates the process of putting a listed good for “sale”
Unlisted None Opposite of “Listed”
GPS/Location   Experiences associated with tracking of a location in real-time.  This includes augmented reality.
Discovered None In virtual worlds or augmented reality/GPS areas, the process of finding something hidden
 Went To None Similar to “discovered” but specific to revealing the location of an actor.  Could be a place (physical or virtual) or GPS coordinates.

From our initial meetings within the Tin Can API Working Group (please join us for more in-depth discussion!), I’ve already seen one area that appears to be lacking is one of power relationships between people such as “Joe mentored Sally” or “Sally instructed Joe”.  Those take on the form of <actor><verb><actor> which I think is an area of the Tin Can API that needs much more discussion.   I have worked a couple such examples of <actor><verb><actor> in here for completeness of the categories, but wondered how far to push this area.

I also have not gone down the rabbit hole of defining verbs that could take place within a certain context, especially within gaming and simulation.  I think this would introduce an amount of verbs that would dwarf the rest.

I welcome any input or ideas for what I have missed.  I suggest you read my blog post on strict and loose verbs (same link as the other referenced blog post) to see how I recommend extending the verbs here to make sense within other contexts before suggesting new verbs to add.   I’d love to hear your ideas for molding those other contextual verbs into the verbs listed above or adding new verbs to capture (by extension) the larger bunch.

Tags experience api, next, Next Generation SCORM, Tin Can, tin can api, tla | April 27th, 2012 | Posted in Blog Post |