I2IDL: Status Update
What a difference a month makes.
A status update: in which we bring you up to speed on what’s happening at I2IDL and how it impacts you.
Not just a status update, but an update on the stakes
This website went live 35 days ago. The idea of I2IDL itself only came to be formed about two weeks prior to that. It was an idea that came out of a bit of a crisis in the learning technology community which was discussed in our inaugural white paper released on 15 Dec 2025.
Since then, we’ve talked to hundreds of you. We’ve talked to people in government both in the United States and abroad and we are still learning about how the changes at ADL are affecting you both in terms of technological guidance and partnership and in terms of “what next”. We’ve talked to industry who were (and in many cases still are) unclear on what this all means for xAPI, Learning Record Stores, and the Total Learning Architecture. We’ve also gotten a tremendous amount of support from across industry, among commercial vendors—many of whom are competitive with one another—and their stakeholders, and through channels of service providers and learning technology consultants. From talking to the largest open source learning software vendor in the world to talking to a grad student just thinking of starting her own business, we’ve been listening.
We’ve talked with multiple universities and research institutes serving academia, civil society, and the scientific community. We’ve earned recognition from global standards committees, and have formally joined the global open standards community as a signatory to Data Standards United. We’ve made it clear that we are neither a standards body ourselves nor are we “ADL 2.0”. The institute is something new: an NGO that can maintain critical open source and data conformance resources while supporting advanced incubation and R&D in the space of data infrastructure and learning technology.
We announced the formation of our founding board—including members Shelly Blake-Plock, Sae Schatz, Megan Torrance, and Jim Goodell. And we set up a LinkedIn presence where we’ve been publishing daily (link up with us here). We’ve been working behind the scenes to put together our initial Technical Steering Committee which will include experts from across industry, government, and academia. They will be tasked with the governance of our open source and data conformance resources. And we’ve set up the web infrastructure to support our first membership campaign for individuals (look for details on the launch by the end of the month).
We’ve done all of this with the help of many of you in the community. Every time you share our posts, you are helping. Every time you engage our team in conversation, you are helping. And by joining events, such as our upcoming 2026 webinar kickoff, you are helping to expand awareness of what we are doing.
Now, we’re asking for a different kind of support. All of the above has gotten done so far on the backs of volunteer labor. But to achieve our goals, namely: to maintain and operate essential open source systems required for global learning data interoperability research and to create a new hub for research and innovation in learning and training technologies, we need to raise money. And so, we are reaching out to industry partners and foundations for financial support of the institute as a non-profit.
Why should these charter funders get involved? Because the stakes are high. Without a trusted third-party, the integrity of data conformance; standards alignment; and future open source software capabilities is diminished for the global learning community as a whole. I2IDL represents the opportunity to imagine such a third-party as created for this moment.
I2IDL will provide canonical hosted xAPI conformance test suites and provide technical certification; intends to stand up a canonical xAPI Profile Server and related linked-data services; provide TLA reference implementations; support shared metadata, competency, and learner record schemas; advise on machine-enabled capabilities and human-led missions to ensure full TLA conformance and accreditation based on the model of ADL’s TLA Maturity Model; provide continued support for and standards alignment with the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee and foster outreach and partnership with allied standards organizations. Additionally, I2IDL intends to provide competitive research grants; support public-private research partnerships; engage in university collaborations; and foster technology incubation and spin-out pathways for TLA-based innovations.
We welcome conversations with interested parties and would be happy to discuss our needs, the opportunities for charter support, and our plans for sustainability.
Whether you are interested in becoming an individual member, sustaining funder, or supporting industry or organizational partner, I welcome you to reach out to me directly via LinkedIn and I look forward to the conversation.
Can’t wait to see where we are in another 35 days,
President, I2IDL
