1. LAMS and Sakai James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology & Director, Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE) james@melcoe.mq.edu.au www.melcoe.mq.edu.au Presentation for Sakai Conference, Austin, Texas, December 8 th 2005

2. Overview Background to Learning Design LAMS LAMS and Sakai “Open Source Teaching” - the LAMS Community

3. 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

4. Demonstration Example: LAMS LAMS illustrates the Learning Design approach In trials for over two years in Australia and UK –Strong positive response from both teachers and learners –State school trials in New Zealand, NSW, SA, Tas, others Applicable to all education sectors (schools, VET, HE, corporate training, adult and community learning, etc) –Eg, UK DfES/SST & JISC 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

5. LAMS Live Demonstration (For a screenshot walkthrough of a demonstration similar to the one shown live, see over ) Case Study: LAMS UK School Implementation - JISC Video http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/kemnal.wmv http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/kemnal.wmv

6. LAMS Live Demonstration Example: What is Greatness? (short version, from Dalziel, 2003) - Week 1: Discussion environment - initial thoughts - Week 2: Review of content and search for websites - Week 3: Small group debates with scribe reporting back to whole class - Week 4: Submit report for marking and comments Demonstrations: - Student view - Monitoring view - Authoring view NB: This example, including the screenshots is slightly different to the example shown live during the presentation at the LAMS launch.

7. Progress indicator for activities: Hand = Current Blank = Yet to come Text = Completed Students can access current and past activities Student notebook/ journal. Thoughts can be entered at any time, or as part of a sequence actvitiy. Entries have two options: private to student or viewable by teacher Main Activity Area: Contains the relevant tool for each activity For example, this is the main page for an asynchronous discussion forum, showing instructions at the top of the page, and a teacher-generated thread below Student Environment

8. Discussion page within a thread from the main forum page The initial post was prepared by the teacher during authoring of this sequence, with student posts over time below

9. Share Resources tool, with teacher selected websites/files viewable in pop-up windows (with instructions)

10. Pop-up window with website loaded below and teacher created instructions, advice, etc above. Instructions can have several steps.

11. Example of student submission of website to be shared with group (can include pop-up comments)

12. Combined chat and scribe tool Chat window in top half of screen, showing sample chat session Scribe tool with questions prepared by teacher during authoring, with open boxes for scribe to record outcomes of chat session (others either agree or continue chat)

13. Small group chat session outcomes from the scribe are sent to a whole class noticeboard: several small group outcomes shown in this example.

14. Students upload a report from their desktop for comments and marking by teacher (can be a range of file types)

15. This is the teacher monitoring area for a live sequence. The “Sequence” tab shows a live “whole class” view of student progress – green dots indicate individual students. Monitoring Environment

16. The “Learners” tab in monitoring shows a live view of each student’s progress – Blue = completed Red = current Green = yet to do. To view s student’s individual contributions to a task, the teacher clicks on the relevant activity. The student’s view (including their contributions) of the selected activity is shown in a pop-up window

17. Activity Tools are stored in a library, and can be dragged and dropped into the main workspace to create sequences Authoring Environment Activity sequences are stored in a repository for re-use, and to be shared with colleagues if desired This is the Greatness sequence from an authoring perspective with links between tools created by drawing lines between activities using the “Transition” tool Greatness is a very linear sequence. Non linear sequences can be created using sets of optional activities.

18. LAMS and Sakai LAMS is integrated into Sakai as if it were just another tool like Forum, etc Integration provides Single-Sign-On/Provisioning in the background – so no extra login for LAMS Additional web services to assist with authoring All details of the LAMS/Sakai integration are at –http://www.lamsfoundation.org/integration/sakai2/ Screenshots of LAMS in Sakai, authoring, student view and monitoring

19. Login Page of LAMS/Sakai test server – includes further information links

20. Sample course in Sakai that uses LAMS

21. Adding a LAMS sequence to a Sakai course – Sakai page

22. Adding a LAMS sequence to a Sakai course – LAMS authoring page (pop-up)

23. Sample course in Sakai with links to LAMS sequences shown in central area

24. Student view of LAMS activities as pop-up window from Sakai course page

25. LAMS monitoring page for live student sequence – popup from teacher area

26. 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: www.lamscommunity.org 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

27. LAMS Community for sharing and developing LAMS Learning Designs - Login

28. Teacher Home Page – Personalised Portal View of all Communities

29. Teacher Home Page – Personalised Portal View of all Communities (cont)

30. Single Community View

31. Forum View

32. Sequence Repository – Public View

33. Individual Sequence – Detailed View

34. Example of Search page including results

35. Individual Sequence – Download page

36. Overview of Sequences you have shared

37. The Birth of Open Source Teaching? The LAMS Community recommends Creative Commons “open content” licensing for LAMS sequences –Default license: attribution, non commercial use, share alike Is this the birth of “Open Source Teaching”? –Combination of open source software that captures the teaching process and community sharing under open content licensing –Bringing the concepts of shared “code” to educational practice via re-usable sequences of learning activities As with any open source project or community, its success depends entirely on its contributors –See www.lamscommunity.org –Over 700 members to date, 70+ countries, 60+ sequences

38. Next Steps for LAMS and Sakai? Further exploration of the concept of Learning Design and LAMS within Sakai community Trial the new LAMS/Sakai integration –Feedback via LAMS Community technical forums Become involved in the development of LAMS V1.1 (major new release coming out over next 6 months) Consider further integration of LAMS and Sakai –Other integrations, eg, LAMS assessment to Sakai gradebook –Avoiding “tools duplication” by making Sakai tools “Learning Design” enabled – major task, but now possible using the LAMS V1.1 “tools interface”