Customer Story
Panarchy Consulting
What happens when a climate course learns from its learners?
Panarchy Consulting moved a climate adaptation course online and used XCL to capture custom learning data. What they found changed how they see their learners and their course.
About Panarchy Consulting
Dr. Kenneth Rainer runs Panarchy Consulting, which designs learning and training programs for environmental and community initiatives. A learning experience designer and environmental educator since 2011, he now focuses on adult professionals building climate resilience in their communities.
Self-paced for learners, real evidence for the designer
Guided by audience needs and supported by the client, Kenneth and his team turned Steps to Resilience, a climate-related hazard planning framework, into a six-module e-learning course. The courses are available at Climate Smart Community.
The client defined success as a measurable increase from pre- to post-assessment scores. Recognizing a broader opportunity, the team integrated xAPI and XCL to gather richer insights from learners. In a relatively new field where content must evolve alongside new developments, this technical solution allowed them to learn and adapt quickly.
I needed a way to capture the data. Building that functionality ourselves was not an option. XCL served exactly what I needed.
Why XCL?
XCL was affordable enough to justify to his client. “It was very cost advantageous for us,” Kenneth says.
XCL also fit his workflow. Kenneth controls what data goes in, through his own custom xAPI statements, and how it comes out, in analysis built around his own questions. Tools that standardize tracking and dashboards can’t offer that, because no two courses are alike.
“I would presume that every e-learning opportunity is its own little unique rainbow,” he says.
The client chose not to use XCL’s storage, so Panarchy used XCL’s link-based approach to host the course elsewhere and still track it through XCL. That gave the team options and control without giving up the data.
How Panarchy uses XCL now
Build six customized modules in Articulate Rise, with added code for tracking.
Track custom xAPI statements for key interactions and optional demographic questions.
Capture every statement in the XCL learning record store.
Analyze the exported data in a Google Data Studio dashboard.
Delivered anywhere with one link
XCL is headless. Learners don’t need an account or login, and the course isn’t locked inside a platform. Panarchy shares one trackable link through:
- Communities of practice for workforce development
- Support programs for local climate planners
- Social media posts
The same link works in an email, on a partner’s site, or as a QR code, and every learner’s activity lands in one learning record store.
Real people, fast answers
When Kenneth had a data question, one email put him in direct contact with the XCL team, who answered right away.
I emailed your help email, and then instantly got connected. It was super fast. It was scarily impressive.
Strong reach for a specialized audience
- 1,478learners have accessed the course
- 470have completed modules
- 6modules tracked in one learning record store
Figures reported by Panarchy Consulting, November 2026.
Five things the data revealed
Because XCL captured exactly what Kenneth chose to track, the data answered questions a completion report never could.
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What people in this work call themselves
There’s no standard title for a climate adaptation planner. Self-reported roles help map the climate-ready workforce and the skills it needs.
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The assessments were too easy
Scores improved, but pre-assessment scores were already high. The team is rewriting questions to measure real growth.
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Adults retry for a perfect score
Even with nothing at stake, learners retried questions to get them right.
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Learners go in order
The modules were built for jumping to what you need. Most learners chose a linear navigation path through the content.
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The audience is more experienced than expected
The course was built for newcomers, but many mid-career and late-career professionals are completing it.
We wouldn’t have been able to do any of this if it wasn’t for XCL providing the capability of grabbing this data.
Work with Panarchy Consulting
Program development, instructional design, monitoring and evaluation, and more for environmental and community initiatives.
Contact Panarchy ConsultingTrack what matters with XCL
Capture data from any content, including SCORM, xAPI, cmi5, video, PDF, and vibe-coded experiences built with AI assistants. No learner accounts or complex programming required.
Contact Build Capable