Sharing Learning Design with
LAMS: The Learning Activity
Management System
James Dalziel
Professor of Learning Technology and Director,
Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE)
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
& Director, LAMS Foundation
[email protected]
www.melcoe.mq.edu.au
Presentation at MIT, March 12th, 2008, Cambridge, USA
Overview
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Learning Design
LAMS
LAMS V2.1 - Branching
Open Education
A Vision for Educators of the Future
What is Learning Design?
• Learning Design is a new approach to describing the
teaching and learning process in a structured way
• Typically describes sequences of student activities
(scaffolding of content + collaboration)
– A sequence applies to a class/week/topic (not whole unit)
• Focus on sharing and re-using good sequences
• Often implemented online with technology
– But becoming a general framework for face to face and online
What is Learning Design?
• Learning Design is particularly useful for pedagogical
approaches that have a structured process, eg:
– Problem Based Learning, Role Plays, Inquiry Based Learning
• Learning Design focuses on how educators structure
activities to foster student learning
– Equal adoption in both K-12 schools and universities
• Learning Design systems can integrate with CMSs
– For students, link(s) from course area to the relevant sequence
– Lecturer single-sign-on and easy authoring and launching
Learning Design Example: LAMS
• LAMS is the world’s leading software for Learning Design
– 1000s of educators, 80+ countries, translated into 25 languages
– Demo accounts available at http://demo.lamscommunity.org/
• Visual “drag and drop” approach to designing activities
– Helps educators to visualise teaching and learning processes
• LAMS Sequences can be shared, re-used and adapted
– LAMS Community (www.lamscommunity.org)
– Approximately 2900 members, 86 countries, 220 shared
sequences downloaded 6900 times, 3500 discussion postings
• Freely available as open source software
– Integrated with CMSs: Sakai, Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, etc
LAMS Demonstration
“What are the qualities of an effective teacher?”
Step 1: Answer question, then reflect on answers from other students
Step 2: Vote on a list of qualities, consider collated votes
Step 3: Discuss responses to Steps 1 & 2
Step 4: Read an expert’s view on the topic
Step 5: Discuss expert’s view compare to class view
Step 6: Personal reflection (or essay if assessment) on initial
question, based on initial views, class discussion & expert view
Can be run face to face with no technology, or fully online, or a mix
Demonstration: Authoring this sequence, then Preview Learner view
Example 2: Role play “Adopting Interactive Whiteboards in schools”
LAMS V2: Authoring view of “Qualities of an Effective Teacher”
LAMS V2: Adopting Interactive Whiteboards in schools – Role play
LAMS Community – View of various communities & forums
LAMS Community – Repository Summary
LAMS Community – Detailed view of individual sequence
New LAMS Features
• Introducing LAMS V2.1:
– Branching
• Teacher allocated
• Group-based
• Tool-output based (MCQ & Forum so far, more to come)
– Sequences in optional
• Student choice of one or more sequences
• “Branching” is always teacher or system driven (ie,
automatic from the student’s perspective); optional
sequences allows for student choice in “branching”
Key concept before we start: Properties bar in Authoring (click on it to open)
So… this is the LAMS V2 (not 2.1) approach – ie, no branching
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Role tasks replaced by Branching
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Inside branching for role tasks
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Naming of branches
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Setting up role groups
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Naming role groups
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Branching type = groups
LAMS 2.1: Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Mapping groups to branches
So… after launching the Role Play sequence in Monitor, a Learner can now access it…
Interactive Whiteboards – Role play: Student view of Forum (private for Pro Teacher role)
LAMS 2.1: Alternative branching approach: Teacher choice instead of group-based
LAMS 2.1: Alternative branching approach: Launch in monitor, then allocate to branches
LAMS 2.1: Teacher allocating students to branches by hand in Monitor
LAMS 2.1: Alternative branching approach: Student view of Branch 2 (“con” teacher)
LAMS 2.1: Alternative branching: Tool-output based branching based on Vote (using MCQ)
Imagine using Vote to create new “yes” and “no” subgroups for extra resources & forum
LAMS 2.1: Tool-output branching: Creating conditions from tool outputs
LAMS 2.1: Tool-output branching: … then mapping conditions to Branches
Branching summary
• Three types of branching
– Group-based
– Teacher choice
– Tool output (& conditions)
• Can have multiple groups, multiple branching activities, multiple
sub-groups applied to one branch, “skip” option for branching
(no task for some learners)
– Tool outputs can be Boolean (either/or) or Scores
– Current tools are MCQ and Forum; more to come
• “Vote” example was (mis) use of MCQ (for now)
LAMS 2.1: New Optional *Sequences* feature (under optional; properties for settings)
LAMS 2.1: New Optional Sequences - allows students to choose 1 or more sequences
Pedagogical uses of new features
• Can assign different students to different topics
– Each group investigates a different aspect of a phenomenon, then
reports findings back to the whole class
• Can use Branching with Tool Output (and Skip) to provide
remediation tasks for only some students (eg, quiz score < X,
then do branch remediation activities; otherwise skip branch)
• Can allow students to choose from different optional sequences
(according to topic, skill, thoroughness, etc)
• Can seek student opinion (eg, Role Play Vote), then create
group tasks that respond to different opinions
Open Education
• Open Education is about sharing education content
and systems without restrictions (eg, Cape Town
Declaration – www.capetowndeclaration.org)
– Free of cost, but more importantly…
– Freedom to share, adapt and improve
• LAMS exhibits the principles of open education at
several levels:
– LAMS software freely available as Open Source Software
– LAMS sequences freely shared under Creative Commons
– Is LAMS the “Open Teaching” part of “Open Education”?
Date of manuscript unknown. Held in Florence, Italy.
Photo by Asiir 17:00, 13 February 2007, Wikipedia.org
First page of the manuscript of Bach's lute suite in
G Minor. Wikipedia.org
Discussion
Further LAMS Information
• Introduction to LAMS – walkthroughs, videos, case studies
http://cd.lamsfoundation.org/
• General demonstration accounts for LAMS
http://demo.lamscommunity.org/
• General information about LAMS
http://www.lamsfoundation.org/
• LAMS Community
http://www.lamscommunity.org/
• Qualities of an Effective Teacher – download sequence from
http://www.lamscommunity.org/dotlrn/clubs/educationalcommunity/lam
sresearchdevelopment/lams-seq//sequence?seq%5fid=256078
• Adoption of Interactive Whiteboards in schools Role Play – download
sequence from
http://lamscommunity.org/lamscentral/sequence?seq_id=376440
• Animated “mock-ups” for Pedagogic Planner concept
http://saturn.melcoe.mq.edu.au/jly/Ped_planner.htm
http://saturn.melcoe.mq.edu.au/jly/Ped_plannerv2.htm