LAMS V2 Beta Launch and Workshop James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology, and Director, Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE) Macquarie University Presentation for London Knowledge Lab, 4 th July, London, UK, 2006

Overview Background to LAMS V1 & LAMS Community LAMS V2 Beta Launch –New features – General and technical –Still to do –Getting involved –Upcoming for V2.1 –The future of educational tools? –Introducing “RAMS” – eResearch collaborative workflow Next steps

Background to LAMS V1 LAMS V1.X is a “Learning Design” system which can stand alone, or complement a Learning Platform LAMS achieves two key innovations –Create, run and manage sequences of learning activities (content and collaboration) –Makes sequences shareable (“digital lesson plans”) LAMS V1 in trials since mid 2003, launched early 2005 –Freely available as open source software (GPL) Various positive independent evaluations –For example, JISC and BECTA reports in the UK LAMS Community has 1300 members, 100 sequences Integrations with Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, Sakai, etc

LAMS Authoring example – What are the qualities of an effective teacher?

LAMS Learner example – What are the qualities of an effective teacher?

LAMS Monitor summary – What are the qualities of an effective teacher?

LAMS Monitor detailed – What are the qualities of an effective teacher?

LAMS Community – View of various communities & forums

LAMS Community – Repository Summary

LAMS Community – Detailed view of individual sequence

LAMS V2 Beta launch LAMS V2 released as Alpha in April, Beta now (July, 06), production in October 06 (and V2.1 planned for first half 07) –Source code available from LAMS CVS repository –Planning several betas (probably 1 per month) A “Beta" release is a version of a system which is not yet quite ready for widespread use by everyone, but which is close to what is expected in the final version Beta releases are used to get feedback on bugs and issues with a new version of a system before it is finalised for mass adoption Given the potential bugs, it's not recommend for average users - rather, it's for exploration by technically experienced users who understand what to expect in a beta release, and are happy to deal with some bugs (and hopefully provide feedback on them!)

LAMS V2 – New Features General: LAMS V1 plus… –Internationalisation (17 languages underway to date) –HTML editor for all activities (supports rich media) –All activities can be run online or “offline” –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) –Instructions/advice/worksheets option for all activities –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 –Completely rewritten backend (all the lessons from V1!) –Modular tools architecture + LAMS Tools Contract Supports tools developers and external tools (via wrappers) Tools contract as a foundation for future educational tools? –Server clustering for high scalability –Flexible identity/roles management Including identity via external LDAP or spreadsheet –New “workspaces” provides file system for managing sequences –Monitor greatly enhanced, eg, all tools can be “Define Later” –Support for multiple databases –Flexible open source Flash components –Customisable look and feel (skins, etc)

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LAMS V2 Wiki ( – Tools Contract

LAMS V2 – Still to do… Work still to do for October release: –Pedagogic planner –Some activity tools missing (Journal, Chat & Scribe) –Learner Progress bar pop-ups not always working –Easy installer –More testing of scalability, clustering, alternative databases –IMS Learning Design Level A –Text editing and interface polishing throughout –Various bugs and flaky bits –Other (!!) See known bugs/issues in LAMS Jira bug tracking system

Early ideas for a pedagogic planner

LAMS V2 – Getting involved Programmer –Explore source code, start writing new tools or help with core –Co-ordinate with core team via LAMS Community tech forums Translator –See translator information on LAMS Community – ready to go Bug hunter –Start by reviewing Jira existing bugs, then hunt down new bugs and post good descriptions to LAMS Community Educational feedback –Post comments to the LAMS Community on features, look and feel, suggestions for the future, things you don’t like, etc

Upcoming for LAMS V2.1 The LAMS V2 architecture provides the foundations for many new features which are not yet visible, eg: –Branching –Conditionality –Advanced grouping –“Data in/data out” –Combinations of the above Also planned for the future are: –“Edit on the fly” –Instant messaging –Pedagogic planner creator/editor –Student-led tools and sequencing (LAMS PLE?)

The future of educational tools? Teacher led Student led Stand aloneSequenced Offline Online

Introducing RAMS The “Research Activity Management System” (RAMS) builds on the LAMS V2 workflow core (+ new eResearch features) A new suite of activity tools appropriate for people- based eResearch activityflows –Plus multi-purpose tools that apply across eLearning and eResearch The result is two different domain-specific applications (LAMS for eLearning; RAMS for eResearch) that draw on a common workflow core Everything is open source

Introducing RAMS LAMS ApplicationRAMS Application “Education Workflow Engine” (LAMS core + new RAMS development) AdminAuthorMonitorParticipant eLearning specific toolsMulti-purpose toolseResearch specific tools TeachersResearchers

High level use cases from RAMP proposal: 1.Managing the research enterprise lifecycle (from grant planning to grant submission, to project initiation, to project lifecycle management, to research outcome dissemination), 2.Implementing auditable evaluation processes for assessing research quality (RQF assessor workflows, journal/conference peer review management, etc), 3.Designing and tracking article submission processes for Institutional Repositories, 4.Flexibly configuring and running online research collaboration processes (such as staged collaborative analysis and discussion for PhD/Postdocs around raw data, leading to interpretation, visualisation, and ultimately publications), and 5.Process-oriented research data collection from human subjects (such as in the humanities, and social and cognitive sciences). Sample eResearch Activityflow Use Cases

Next steps The LAMS Community is the home for discussion of V2 –Encourage you to get involved, either educational or technical We welcome new programmers, translators and bug hunters to help develop LAMS V2 –We’re (finally) ready for more community involvement Look forward to feedback from educators on current and future directions We welcome interest in RAMS (eg, for JISC VRE2) Please remember, it’s a beta ;-)