LAMS: The Learning Activity Management System James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology & Director, Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE) Director, LAMS Foundation; Director, LAMS International Pty Ltd ; Presentation for SUNY, Albany, NY, 26th October, 2005
Introducing Learning Design Learning Design is a name given to a new field of e-learning technology Learning Design = Sequence of Collaborative Learning Activities Learning Designs can incorporate single learner content, but also collaborative tasks such as discussion, voting, small group debate, etc Potential to “wrap” a single-learner Learning Objects with a sequence of collaborative tasks **Learning Designs can be stored, re-used, customised
Demonstration Example: LAMS LAMS illustrates the Learning Design approach In use for over two years in Australia and UK –Strong positive response from both faculty and learners Applicable to all education sectors (schools, VET, HE, corporate training, adult and community learning, etc) –Eg, UK K-12 & HE trials; Oxford, Cambridge, ANU, New Zealand Ministry of Education/National Library, etc LAMS released as freely available open source software by the LAMS Foundation, commercial support services provided by LAMS International Pty Ltd –Both supported by Macquarie University –See and
LAMS Live Demonstration (For a screenshot walkthrough of a demonstration similar to the one shown live, see the “What is Greatness?” example on slides 9-20 at ) Case Study: LAMS UK School Implementation - JISC Video
Example of Creating Learning Designs using LAMS Authoring
Example of Learner Environment for LAMS Learning Design
Introducing the LAMS Community LAMS Community provides a global website for groups to discuss the use of LAMS and share sequences –New approach to the dream of sharing, re-use and adaptation Free, open platform (based on OpenACS/.LRN) –Anyone can join at: Key Community Features –News (inc RSS) - Sub-communities –Discussion forums - Surveys –**Sequence repository (inc RSS) - FAQs Initial community structure –“Getting started”, K-12, Higher education, R&D, Technical, etc –Can add new open or closed communities as needed –Tech community is the home for open source LAMS dev
LAMS Community for sharing and developing LAMS Learning Designs - Login
Teacher Home Page – Personalised Portal View of all Communities
Teacher Home Page – Personalised Portal View of all Communities (cont)
Single Community View
Forum View
Sequence Repository – Public View
Individual Sequence – Detailed View
Example of Search page including results
Individual Sequence – Download page
Overview of Sequences you have shared
Current LAMS Developments Integration with LMSs –Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai done; WebCT,.LRN, uPortal coming –However, just SSO so far, not activity tool integration For LMSs, this means tools duplication; not a problem for uPortal Next generation LAMS architecture – V1.1 –Modular, scalable design of back end (Java) & front end (Flash) –Learning Design/learningflow/workflow aware tools interface Able to build new tools/customise existing tools to run in LAMS –Activity tools able to stand alone or live within sequence
Current LAMS Developments Some examples of faculty requests and response: –“Preview” important for authoring (eg, JISC trial) Implemented Jan 05, positive response –Survey tool for capturing learner responses (JISC trial) Implemented Jan 05, positive response –Integrate richer text and web content into activities RTF editor for noticeboard in Apr 05, HTML noticeboard Oct 05 RTF editor for all tools in V1.1 –Portfolio export HTML/Text record of individual student activities for V1.1 HTML/Text record of all class activities for teachers for V1.1 –Languages other than English Internationalisation of LAMS for V1.1
Current LAMS Developments Some examples of faculty requests and response: –Branching/Grouping More advanced grouping in V1.1, more branching V1.2 –Edit sequences on the fly Can see where in Monitor – Sequence tab – planned for V1.2 –Wizard “Author Xpress” prototype example –Instant Messaging Allow teacher to learners, and L2L messaging in V1.1 –Offline text editing once sequence structure in place Yet to explore – could use custom OpenDocument format?
New potential visualisation of branching in future LAMS
Example of potential advanced grouping and branching functions in future LAMS releases
Draft for a sequence selection/template system – a LAMS “wizard”
The future of LMSs? Traditional Learning Management Systems are coming under pressure from many angles –Financial –Functionality –Innovation –Alternative solutions (eg, Portals) –Open source systems Significant existing investment in current systems, yet concerns about “lock-in” and lack of flexibility for future User experience “lock-in” vs Technical “lock-in” A vision for a new approach to the LMS question….
Enterprise Management Repository Access StudentCourse AreaAreas Knowledge Portal Student Course Area Areas Learning Activities StudentCourse AreaAreas
Portal Student area –Personalised look and feel –Personalised portlets - choice of views and services –e-Portfolio style functionality Course area –Course details –Calendar, , etc style service portlets –“Current VLE” type functions
Repository Student area –Personal file area –Saved searches –Other personal resources Course area –Access to course content and Learning Objects –Access to search services and databases, datasets and computational services –Reading lists
Learning Activities Student area –Social software style tools (blogs, wikis, etc) –Informal learning tools (student created collaborative tasks and sequences - student controlled LAMS) Course area –Teacher created/led sequences of activities (LAMS) –Links to resources in sequences