Introducing lsgraph 2.0: A robust API for learning applications

LearnerShape is pleased to announce a major update to our lsgraph open source learning infrastructure library. This is our first major update to lsgraph since it was released in November 2020, including new concepts, added data, and a cleaner, better documented interface. With this update, lsgraph has been redesigned to fully embrace our aim of building the world’s best open source learning infrastructure.

Building a robust, multi-tenant API for learning

We had four major aims in designing lsgraph 2.0:

Clear, documented API

Originally, lsgraph was developed in tandem with our web platform. The structure of requests to library functions, the information expected, and information returned were all selected with the very specific needs of our web platform in mind. They could be used more generally but usually with a small disconnect in expectations. This update began by considering the common features needed to support diverse applications. We then documented the API using the openAPI standard. We have updated the example notebooks and added documentation of the entire API.

Self-contained

The development of lsgraph in tandem with our web platform also resulted in an imperfect division of responsibilities between them, with some functions that many users might expect residing in our web platform. This update to lsgraph includes a carefully-planned interface designed to support the needs of any learning application.

Multi-tenant

Because lsgraph is an open source project, most users will run it within their own organizations. Running a hosted service we must be able to support multiple organizations and decided to include this functionality in the open source project. Different organizations and skills graphs were already supported but had significant limitations in certain areas. We have improved the isolation between organizations while supporting the possibility of resources being shared. This provides one central place for us to update the learning resources we manage (e.g. courses, videos, podcasts, etc.), and enables resource providers to promote their resources on our platform.

Implement lessons learned

In using lsgraph and working with customers, we have found areas where lsgraph did not meet important needs of LearnerShape and our customers. We have added entirely new concepts and functions, and refined existing functions that did not address important requirements.

Detailed changes

This update touches every area of lsgraph. Some of the highlights include:

Skills

• Support for exploring the skills graph has been expanded to include search
• Skill information has been improved to support efficient use
• Using optimized queries, skill information can be efficiently fetched from the database without requiring a cache and risking stale data
• Skill levels can now be adapted to the needs of the organization, with options other than beginner, intermediate, advanced or expert

Resources

• Based on the needs of pilot customers additional information can now be stored for each resource
• Options to explore resources have been expanded with an improved search interface
• Providers, platforms, and formats have been separated from resources, enabling re-use and additional information to be handled.
• Resources can now have multiple different offerings, for example a course taught each semester or offered both in classroom and online

Groups

• A new concept of groups of learners (within an organization) has been introduced
• Used with collections (see below), different members of an organization can be shown different sets of resources (in addition to the customization for each learner that lsgraph has always provided)
• Used with workforce planning, a subset of members can be considered such as a department or work site

Collections

• A new concept of collections of learning resources has been introduced – a “collection” might be an internal set of learning resources, the full library of an external course provider, or any other group of learning resources imaginable
• Members of an organization can now be subscribed to collections and see different content
• Public collections enable resources to be shared between organizations

Together, these are big changes to lsgraph, and they are not backward compatible. But if you have an existing project using lsgraph, the previous version remains available on Github, and we will continue to address any major issues. If you have a new education or training project planned, we think you will like this lsgraph update.

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to partner with us to build a custom learning application, please get in touch.

Dr Jonathan Street, Head of Data Science, LearnerShape