LAMS V2 James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology, and Director, Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE) Macquarie University Presentation for CETIS Pedagogic/ECSIG Conference, April 26 th, 2007

Overview LAMS V2 Upcoming for V2.1 Pedagogic planners Next steps

Author – Bedside manner sequence

Learner – Q&A – Collated answers

LAMS V2 Over two years of work to rebuild LAMS based on all the lessons (technical and pedagogical) learned to date –V2 released December 2006, V2.0.2 is current version –V2.1 planned for July 2007 For educators and learners, the core concepts remain the same, but many new features For programmers, it has a new modular architecture –Separation of activity tools from “workflow” engine –Easy integration of LAMS with VLE, portal, etc Provides a foundation for shared development for many years to come

LAMS V2 – New Features General: LAMS V1 plus… –Internationalisation (23 languages underway to date) –HTML editor for all activities (supports rich media) –All activities can be run online or “offline” (+ advice/docs) –New Welcome page for courses and course groups (eg, tutes) –New grouping options (teacher chosen, specify group size/no.) –New workflow gates (schedule, synchronise, permission) –Sequence launching using flexible groups; scheduling –Teacher participation in any activity; edit/hide/filter options –All activities provide statistics on student use –“Portfolio export” – downloadable record of student activities –Many more: See

LAMS V2 – New Features Technical –Ground-up rewrite –Modular tools architecture + LAMS Tools Contract Supports tools developers and external tools (via wrappers) REST-style soa architecture for tools integration –Server clustering for high scalability –Flexible identity/roles management (inc. LDAP) –LMS integration (single-sign-on; potential for tools via Contract) Moodle and Sakai released, Bb7 underway, Powerlink to come –New “workspaces” provides file system for managing sequences (No more “sequence locking”) –Monitor greatly enhanced, eg, all tools can be “Define Later” –Support for multiple databases, multiple operating systems –Customisable look and feel (skins, etc) –IMS Learning Design Level A export option

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LAMS V2 Wiki ( – Tools Contract

Upcoming for LAMS V2.1 The LAMS V2 architecture provides the foundations for many new features which are coming soon, eg: –Branching –Conditionality –Advanced grouping –“Data in/data out” (initially quiz scores, more options to come) –Combinations of the above Also planned are: –Live Edit (used to be called “Edit on the fly”) –Merge sequences (authoring) –Instant messaging –Pedagogic planner (didn’t make it for V2) –Dynamic joint classes for sequences (using Shibboleth federation)

Branching by group – different content for each group

Advanced grouping and branching – multiple pathways

Pedagogic Planners Some of the most exciting current work in Learning Design is around the concept of a “pedagogic planner” –A support process to assist educators in reflection, and selecting and adapting sequence templates to improve student learning –NB: It will be some time before we have rich enough libraries of sequences that adaptation is not required We still have a great deal to learn about how to do this For me, a pedagogic planner has three stages: (1) A decision process to select an appropriate template (2) Easy authoring (only fill in essential fields) (3) Output that can immediately be run (not a narrative description) The process needs to be easy to support rapid iterations

Early ideas for a pedagogic planner

An example of the first stage – Decision process

More details for the first stage – Decision process

Second stage – Easy authoring (other settings pre-configured)

Pedagogic Planners Stage 1 – Decision process – could be based on many different models of reflecting on teaching and selecting a sequence –My example – simple set of branched web pages –Could be a search against a library based on criteria –Could be based on recommendations, usage, etc Stage 2 – Easy authoring – assumes a template designer has created existing sequences based on good pedagogy where most features are pre-configured –So the educator only needs to complete essential fields Stage 3 – Output can immediately be run –Important for iterative testing, as well as easy sharing –Narrative description in a text document is not sufficient (for me)

Pedagogic Planners A vision for pedagogic planners –A model for using and creating pedagogic planners –Software to support creating/using pedagogic planners –Potential for re-use and sharing of pedagogic planners themselves (incorporating decision process and/or templates) –Iterative research on what types of pedagogic planners (decision process and templates) are found to be most useful: Discipline-based? Pedagogic style? Delivery mode? –I no longer want to build *the* LAMS pedagogic planner; I’d like our community to work together to build lots of them!

Design a decision process Link to/install decisions & templates Create pre-configured templates Design a decision process Link to/install decisions & templates Create pre-configured templates Design a decision process Select template via decision process Optional: Full editing Fill in essential content/tasks Preview, Iterate, Run (Share) Link to/install decisions & templates Create pre-configured templates Using a Pedagogic Planner: Teacher/Lecturer role Creating a Pedagogic Planner: Educational Designer role (Stage 1)(Stage 2) (Stage 3)

Next steps LAMS V2 Demo accounts at –Full downloads from LAMS wiki for all technical documentation – Educational/technical discussion & sequence sharing in LAMS Community – –2000+ members, 83+ countries, 110+ sequences, posts 2007 European LAMS Conference – 5 th July at University of Greenwich (+ training workshops on 6/7 th ) –Presentation/paper proposals due by May 7 th –Pedagogic Planner Roundtable on July 6 th at London Knowledge Lab (closed event, please me about attending)