Last week, the IEEE LTSC Technical Advisory Group on xAPI (TAGxAPI) voted to submit a Project Authorization Request (PAR) to pursue the standardization of xAPI 1.0.3 and potentially the standardization of xAPI Profiles.

According to the IEEE-SA,

The first step in beginning a standards development project, whether an individual or entity/corporate activity, in the IEEE-SA is the submittal of the Project Authorization Request (PAR).

A PAR is a document that states the reason for the project and what it intends to do.

A committee of TAGxAPI members is already working on the draft PAR. There will be a vote in the LTSC on March 13th at 9:00am Eastern to approve the PAR for xAPI 1.0.3. 

If the vote passes, a Working Group will be formed to formally submit the PAR to the IEEE-SA New Standards Committee (NesCom). NesCom then sends their recommendation to the IEEE-SA Standards Board. Once approved by the Standards Board, the clock starts ticking on the standards project.

This work dovetails nicely with conversations going on in the new xAPI and Learning Analytics SIG hosted by the IEEE IC Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering (ICICLE). The SIG encourages public participation in its activities and is a great way to take part in the community conversation.

Watch this space for more news over the coming weeks regarding developments in the standardization of xAPI. And if you have an interest in joining the Working Group in the event things move forward, please contact TAGxAPI chair Shelly Blake-Plock directly to discuss.