LAMS: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology & Director, Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE) Presentation for MQ LAMS Train the Trainer Workshop, 24 th March, 2005

The Challenge: Can we reverse this situation?

A little history LAMS arose from my personal frustrations with the limitations of existing learning platforms –Isolated, single-learner experience –Little understanding of classroom learning activities –Too content-centric –Limited pedagogy – mainly “transmission” model –Metaphor of a website, instead of a lesson plan Content vs process view of education But when I talked with learning platform vendors, they were quite clear that no one was asking for changes (….this is still true today!)

A little history LAMS began as a collaboration between WebMCQ and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia in 2002 –I worked with Donna Gibbs to develop an example (What is Greatness?) that could then be implemented in software I was influenced by the work of Educational Modelling Language (OUNL), IMS Learning Design, and Diana Laurillard’s conversational model –But I felt we would need to push beyond all of these models Produced our first working prototype in February 2003 –Adopted by Kemnal Technology College in May (DfES support)

A little history After seeing the impact of LAMS at KTC, I had a feeling it might be very important to the future of education I began to explore options for making LAMS freely available as open source software (OSS), that is: –No license fees –Freely available to use, modify, add new features, etc –Avoid LAMS sequences becoming a “secret” file format In late 03/04, WebMCQ & Macquarie University agreed: –Transfer LAMS to a non profit foundation, release as OSS –Move all LAMS staff to Macquarie (MELCOE) –Create a company for support services (LAMS International)

Today In July 2004 at a DfES-hosted function, we announced that LAMS would be released as open source in Feb 05 –Source code released in late February –Official open source launch April 13 th, includes release of installer We began two large-scale UK trials, with support services from LAMS International –SST trial for over 40 schools –JISC trial for 16 HE and 15 FE practitioners –Other trials in Australia, New Zealand, etc –University partners include Oxford, Cambridge, ANU, NTU, etc While the software continues to evolve rapidly, we are moving towards a focus on pedagogy, not technology LAMS is empowering teachers and lecturers to develop their own re-usable activity sequences in all disciplines

The end of the beginning Why this history? To understand why LAMS is different: –Purpose –Software design and technologies –“Business” model –Focus on pedagogy and collaborative activities –(Lack of) R&D funding So what is next? –Technology –Business model –Pedagogy –Beyond “e” learning

The Future: Technology Open source release will empower other programmers to develop and extend LAMS Creation of a “tools interface” to allow programmers to build new tools for LAMS independent of the “engine” We will mainly focus on the “engine” to make it more powerful, robust, scalable, etc Integration with related e-learning systems such as VLE/LMS, portals, e-learning content, etc Upcoming new area for “unstructured activities” –Student-based collaboration area, not structured like sequences “Preview” feature (for authoring) now available

The Future: Business Model LAMS Foundation owns LAMS software, will release it as freely available open source software –Seeking Government and Charitable Foundation support for ongoing R&D over the next 3 years, then should be sustainable LAMS International will provide (commercial) support services for LAMS users who require assistance –But, no one is required to use these services – if you want to manage LAMS yourself, there is no restriction on this –Ultimately we hope that LAMS International services will be a cost effective option in many cases due to our ability to aggregate expertise and contracts to provide support at scale

The Future: Pedagogy LAMS activity sequences can provide templates for many different disciplines, and different pedagogies LAMS appears successful across all education sectors –But, the sequences look different! Key objective for 2005 is the development of an online community of users who can share sequences, experience with students, new ideas, etc Extend platform for even broader range of pedagogies –Different grouping options, branching, peer assessment, etc

The Future: Beyond “e” learning Consider the following: –LAMS was originally built for online activities –But in the future you will be able to build a sequence of activities, then decide which activities are best done online vs face to face –Consider the activity “small group discussion” If online, LAMS would create the environment for you (eg, chat) If face to face, LAMS would provide a printout for the teacher (and potentially students) with instructions on how to run the activity face to face (what is the topic, how many small groups, etc) –Every tool in LAMS could run in “online” or “face to face” mode Then…..LAMS become a “learning” system, not just an e-learning system – this represents a fundamental shift

Conclusion We’ve come along way from small beginnings We’ve reached the end of the beginning, the next phase will be very exciting The key next steps are: –Wider teacher training in LAMS –Increasing use of LAMS in the classroom with students –Building an online community of teachers for sharing sequences and experience