At first glance, a classic recipe for bread seems almost too simple. Flour, water, salt and yeast. A few straightforward steps. Mix, knead, rise and bake. It’s a formula that has been followed for thousands of years, and when executed correctly, the result is a perfect loaf.
The same can be said for eLearning standards. The SCORM, xAPI, LTI, AICC and cmi5 specifications are a set of straightforward guidelines. They provide a foundational way for learning content to communicate with a learning platform. They’ve been around for a long time, and that is their greatest strength. Much like a recipe for a perfect loaf of bread, these stable eLearning standards have become the reliable bedrock of the online learning industry.
However, anyone who has ever baked bread knows that the simplest recipe can be frustratingly inconsistent. Subtle alterations—a few extra minutes of kneading, a difference in flour quality, a draft from an open window—can completely change the final product. One day you have a perfect, golden-brown loaf; the next, you have a dense, flat disappointment.
This is the central challenge of eLearning standards implementation. The standards themselves are solid, but how they are implemented by different vendors or developers can be vastly different, leading to significant headaches, like difficulty with tool import or integrations, lost completions and unreliable data. The final “loaf” is inconsistent, and there’s no clear way to understand why it turned out that way.
The baker’s touch
We’ve listened to countless stories from customers, partners and industry leaders about the problems they face, and we’ve dedicated ourselves to perfecting the eLearning recipe. We believe that true value comes not just from knowing the standards, but from continuously discovering and deconstructing their implementations to ensure every piece of content delivers a flawless, reliable experience.
Our recent updates to Rustici Engine in versions 23 and 24 (and even our exploration into Rustici Generator) are a testament to this commitment. These aren’t just new features; they are foundational improvements designed to improve the reliability and consistency that you should expect when using standards based content in even the most complex learning ecosystems.
New ingredients for a better loaf
- The perfect dough: LTI Deep Linking – The dough is the core of your bread, and if it’s poorly made, nothing else matters. In Rustici Engine 24 – the core — our new LTI Deep Linking feature streamlines the process of adding content from LTI tools. By simplifying this critical step, we ensure a more consistent and reliable foundation for all your learning experiences.
- The right oven temperature: Client-side Player API – A perfect loaf requires a consistent oven temperature. The new Client-side Player API ensures this consistency by creating a more robust communication channel between your learning platform and the player. This means that events—like a learner’s progress and completion—are tracked more accurately, helping prevent the heartbreak of lost completions.
- Special flour for a better rise: xAPI improvements – Using high-quality flour makes all the difference in a loaf’s rise and texture. In Engine 23, we made significant performance improvements to our xAPI data handling. We can collect and process learning statements more efficiently than ever, making the content tracking process faster and more reliable.
A recipe you can trust
We believe that eLearning standards don’t have to be a mystery. While they provide a solid recipe, the implementation is the secret ingredient that guarantees a perfect result every time. With the continuous improvements in Rustici Engine, we are committed to providing you with the most reliable and performant eLearning implementation on the market.
Whether you’re an LMS provider or an enterprise organization, our software ensures that every piece of content you deliver is baked to perfection.
If you need your learning tool to play content more reliably, make sure to reach out about Rustici Engine and other tools that can help. If you are curious about what will be coming in the next version of Rustici Engine, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
