Edu-API

Edu-API is the latest in the 1EdTech family of academic enterprise specifications. Driving off the comprehensive modeling of Learning Information Services (LIS) and leveraging the extensive history and experience of past efforts like OneRoster^® and LTI^®, Edu-API will allow for the standardized exchange of data between the transactional systems that manage higher education administration and teaching and learning. That means not only increased efficiency on campus but also the facilitation of the development of a new generation of smart, sustainable apps, personalized based on data about the student shared in a secure and responsible way.

Launched in Spring 2018, Edu-API is currently in Candidate Final Public status and moving towards the release of its first version. The Edu-API community welcomes members of higher education institutions and suppliers to participate as the specification continues to evolve.

Technical Overview

Higher ed institutions share a common need to allow for the exchange of core enterprise data between the systems and tools within their teaching and learning ecosystem. From student information systems that frequently serve as the system of record for personal and biographic/demographic data, course catalogs, enrollments, and final outcomes—to learning management systems that not only need much of that same data but house their own details like assignment level grades, class participation, and connections—to a host of learning tools, library systems, housing, parking, and card services—data needs to be easily and efficiently exchanged on campus. 

Getting systems on campus to work together remains a significant challenge and investment. Without a single, coherent standard across the industry, integration will remain the task of every individual institution, reinventing the wheel again and again. That means more customizations, more (and more expensive) IT projects that have to be maintained over time, and greater fragility and inefficiency in your overall digital ecosystem.

EDU-API: A STANDARD MODEL FOR THE INTEGRATION OF CORE EDUCATION ENTERPRISE DATA

Edu-API will allow for the standardized exchange of data between the transactional systems that manage education administration and teaching and learning. That means not only increased efficiency on campus but also the facilitation of the development of a new generation of smart, sustainable apps, personalized based on data about the student and shared in a secure and responsible way.

BUILDING ON THE PAST

Needs change—based on changing technology, business environments, and investments. 1EdTech's Edu-API will build on the foundation of the Learning Information Services (LIS) specification, which in turn evolved from the earlier 1EdTech Enterprise specification and the eduPerson schema, and will incorporate the thinking and consideration that went into other initiatives, such as:

• Unizin Common Data Model
• Brigham Young University’s PERSONS API
• Internationalization extensions to LIS modeled by SUNET and SURFnet in the European Union

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Leveraging the extensive history and experience of past efforts like OneRoster^® and Learning Tools Interoperability^® (LTI), Edu-API will focus on meeting the immediate needs of education interoperability while keeping an eye toward future-proofing the solution to ensure long-term sustainability and value.

One way to do that is to focus on “emission, not transmission,” defining an API that focuses on the payload and is usable across multiple transport protocols and technologies. When you watch your favorite movie, whether it’s on the big screen in a theater or streamed over your mobile device, the underlying content remains the same.

The pace of technological innovation is not slowing down; if anything, it is speeding up, and as new capabilities and solution sets emerge, it is important that a specification—to the extent possible—not be tied to a singular technology platform. Whether working with enterprise service buses, message brokers, or even the emerging category of Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), Edu-API will be structured in a way so as to be usable in a variety of infrastructure topologies.

That’s even more important as the solutions, applications, and tools in those topologies evolve. As enterprise applications increasingly migrate to the cloud, what does that mean for the availability of data by an institution’s IT developers? With less direct access to data, the existence of robust, flexible APIs takes on increasing importance so that together, we can enable the next generation of smart, sustainable teaching and learning technology, personalized with and by data about the student and accessed in secure and responsible ways to maximize student success.

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