Standards

IMS Global Updates Caliper Analytics Standard

• By Rhea Kelly
• 02/21/18

The IMS Global Learning Consortium has announced Caliper Analytics v1.1, the latest version of its interoperability standard for learning data, designed to foster an open ecosystem for educational data and analytics.

Caliper Analytics v1.1 "makes it easier to deliver learning event data by providing guided language for describing, collecting and exchanging learning data across learning technologies, and promotes better data interoperability through a shared vocabulary for describing learning interactions," according to a news announcement. With the data streams enabled by Caliper, institutions can "produce a complete record of learning activity, not just outcomes, from all digital resources to support teaching and learning at scale while informing new learning models, student success programs and institutional strategic planning."

First created in 2015, the standard enables "the collection of valuable learning and tool usage data from digital resources, which can be used for predictive analytics and to deliver powerful insights about learning activity, instructional resource efficacy and student engagement," according to an IMS statement. Caliper has been adopted by LMS and learning tool companies such as Blackboard, D2L, Instructure, Elsevier, Intellify Learning, Kaltura, Learning Objects and McGraw-Hill Education; Canvas by Instructure and Ingram/VitalSource are among the first to be certified for Caliper Analytics v1.1.

IMS reports that institutions such as Penn State University, Purdue University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Kentucky, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Michigan, and the Unizin Consortium "are using Caliper-formatted data from one or more learning tools to analyze and measure the effectiveness of learning activities to support their student success initiatives."

"Caliper enables high volume, real-time streams of activity data that can be tracked and analyzed to help inform academic planning, program and course design, and student intervention measures," said Rob Abel, chief executive officer for IMS Global Learning Consortium, in a statement. "The continued growth in adoption of Caliper Analytics in ed tech will result in a more productive and personalized environment that meets the evolving needs of students and educators."

For more information, visit the IMS site.