1. LAMS: The Learning Activity Management System
James Dalziel
Professor of Learning Technology &
Director, Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE)
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Presentation for Chinese University of Hong Kong, HK, July 11th, 2006

2. Overview Introduction to LAMS Demonstration of LAMS
Integrating LAMS with LMSs
MQ and the LAMS Community
From e-learning to learning
LAMS in Hong Kong
Questions and Discussion

3. LAMS World’s leading software for digital lesson plans
1000s of users across 80+ countries
Visual “drag and drop” approach to designing activities
Teacher designs activities, then “runs” them with students, and monitors student progress
Freely available as open source software

4. LAMS LAMS is successful in all areas of education
Higher education
Schools
Vocational training
Corporate e-learning
Easy to use – can build a lesson in less than 10 minutes
**Lessons can be stored, re-used, adapted and shared

5. LAMS LAMS has many uses, eg, it can be used for:
live collaborative activities in a computer lab
online homework activities completed at home or in the library
individual instruction or small group work in classrooms with few computers
dynamic presentations in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard or projector
personalised learning and presenting content (Learning Objects)
collaboration across several educational institutions, even in different countries

6. LAMS
There is no licence cost for LAMS – it is freely available as open source software
LAMS is freely provided by the non-profit LAMS Foundation
Fee-based services and support for LAMS are provided by a commercial company – LAMS International
Both LAMS Foundation and LAMS International are supported by Macquarie University

7. LAMS LAMS users include:
UK Department for Education and Skills together with the UK Specialist Schools Trust – supporting over 40 UK schools
New Zealand Ministry of Education – supporting over 30 NZ schools, together with polytechnics and universities
UK Joint Information Systems Committee (“JISC”) supporting 15 Further Education and 16 Higher Education institutions in the UK, and development work
Oxford University
Cambridge University
Australian National University & University of Canberra
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
University of Sussex
National Library of New Zealand
Tasmanian, NSW and South Australian Departments of Education

8. LAMS LAMS V2 Beta released last week, full version due in October 2006
Many new features
Much greater scalability
“Pluggable” activity tools
Support for languages other than English

9. LAMS Authoring – Main Page

10. LAMS Authoring – Forum Setup

11. LAMS Learner – Forum Summary Page

12. LAMS Learner – Forum Details Page

13. LAMS Demonstration 1
Using LAMS authoring to create activities for individual student study and self-test
“About LAMS”

15. “Statistics and Statistical Reasoning”
LAMS Demonstration 2
Using LAMS authoring to create question activities for students before attending a lecture
“Statistics and Statistical Reasoning”

17. “Statistics and Statistical Reasoning - Followup”
LAMS Demonstration 3
Using LAMS for post-lecture followup – resources, questions and discussion
“Statistics and Statistical Reasoning - Followup”

19. “What are the qualities of an effective teacher?”
LAMS Demonstration 4
Using LAMS for online group discussion and debate
“What are the qualities of an effective teacher?”

21. Questions about Demonstration

22. LAMS @ Macquarie Macquarie is rolling out LAMS across the university
Project includes:
Integration with WebCT (LMS)
Educational Support
Training
Case Studies and Dissemination
Used across many areas:
Eg, Statistics, Management, Education, Innovation, Languages
Student authoring in teacher training courses
Further adoption planned for the future

23. Sharing Lesson Plans: The LAMS Community
The “LAMS Community” is global website for communities of LAMS users.
Discuss the use of LAMS, new features, technical issues
**Share sequences, search for sequences, comment on and rate sequences, and get statistics on downloads
Find colleagues with similar interests, form sub-communities
We use Creative Commons “open content” licensing of LAMS sequences
Approximately 1300 members, 80 countries, 100 shared sequences, 600 discussion postings

24. LAMS Community – View of various communities & forums

25. LAMS Community – Repository Summary

26. LAMS Community – Public Sequence Repository

27. LAMS Community – Detailed view of individual sequence

28. Integrating LAMS with LMS
LAMS can be integrated with a LMS
Appears to students as a link on the course page, clicking on link jumps into LAMS sequence, when finished, back to LMS
Current integrations include: Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, Sakai and .LRN
Typical integration achieves “Single Sign On” (no double login) for both teachers and learners
Additional features to help teachers to author and monitor
But…. not yet “tools integration” – LMS tools need new feature to be “workflow aware”
Technical details defined in LAMS V2 “tools contract”

29. From “e-learning” to “learning”
LAMS V2 allows any activity to be run in online or “offline” mode
If you select online, LAMS will configure the relevant environment, link to other activities, etc
If you select offline, LAMS will be able to print off a set of instructions about how to run the activity without technology, including potential for student worksheets
LAMS becomes a general lesson planning tool, with technology-based delivery of activities as an option

30. The future of educational tools?
Stand alone
Sequenced
Offline
Online
Teacher led
Student led

31. The potential of LAMS in HK
LAMS provides a way of describing and sharing “good practice” lessons
LAMS could provide a way of disseminating good practice – foster creativity and innovation
LAMS provides potential for better quality assurance of teaching methods across education system
Potential benefits not just for universities, but also for schools
Cab integrate with LMS, eg, Blackboard, WebCT, Sakai, Moodle

32. Questions & Discussion
For further information see: