LAMS

Definition

Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) is a learning design system (software).

Description

LAMS provides:

• a visual authoring interface to design and create learning sequences from a list of building blocks of individual or collective activities
• a monitoring tool through which teachers can track students' progress through an activity sequence.

According to a LAMS website, LAMS includes environments for user administration, student run-time delivery of sequences, teacher run-time monitoring of student sequences and, most importantly, teacher authoring/adaptation of sequences. LAMS is inspired by, and heavily based on, IMS Learning Design and EML. Originally, LAMS was not designed to be a reference implementation of either specification - however LAMS is expected to be IMS Learning Design conformant in the future.

According to Krann (2003), “The heart of the system is a visual editor that allows educators to choreograph a whole learning activity around a particular topic. By dragging and dropping acts like synchronous discussion (chat), web polls, students posting material and structured debates, a series of online lessons can be planned much like a conventional lesson. The player part of the system then allows a group of students to take part in all these activities, and presents the right tools at the right time, and divides the group into smaller groups, if that's what the teacher designed.”

The LAMS 2 environment

This article or section is currently under construction

In principle, someone is working on it and there should be a better version in a not so distant future.
If you want to modify this page, please discuss it with the person working on it (see the "history")

Authoring

Basically, an author has to do the following tasks:

Members and courses

This part was least obvious to me :)

Installation on a Windows XP PC

Do not try to install LAMS if you lack basic installation experience and technical reading skills. Here are just a few remarks in addition to the LAMS installation instructions.

Other Software

To run it on windows you need to install other software.

• Java JSE 5.0 (update 9), not just the JRE. Get it from Sun.
• MySQL: Get it directly from MySQL and take the Installer version (not the zip installation).
  • Install it and remember the password
  • I suggest not installing/using a WAMP environment for LAMS 2RC 2. The LAMS installer 2Rc2 could not find MySQL in my WampServer environment even if it was told where to look for in the LAMS installer.
  • Hack would be to manually edit the registry with this information from MySQL AB and this posting and picture by Ernie Ghiglione. Bascially one needs to reproduce the MySQL entry from the official MysQL AB installer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

 SOFTWARE
   MySQL AB
     MySQL Server 5.0  
                         Location c:\wamp\mysql
                         Version  5.0.27

... but this still didn't work for me.

MySQL

• If you use a WAMP package you must know where MySQL sits. E.g. c:\wamp\mysql if you work with "WampServer" (but see above that I failed, rather work with an "official MySQL installer from MySQL AB). If you use the official MySQL installer, there will be no problem.

LAMS

• Has an installer and if you got the above right it will install without problems. You may have a firewall. In this case make sure to open the necessary ports. Also pay attention to popup blockers in your navigator. LAMS worked fine with both IE 6 and Firefox 1.5x.

Evaluation

Masterman and Lee (2005:4) who ran an evaluation with 34 participants in the UK reported the following findings:

i) LAMS is capable of supporting a range of pedagogical approaches, in that designers can select those activities that match their preferred style. However, the lack of support for images and graphics can be a hindrance to the design of appropriate learning tasks. The adoption of LAMS within an institution would almost certainly entail an increased workload for teachers, but with time and experience this load could be expected to lessen.

ii) LAMS appears neither to have compromised learning outcomes in comparison with the existing learning environment nor to have resulted in dramatic improvements in achievement. However, using LAMS to raise the level of learning outcomes was not a prime consideration for practitioners. Rather, they perceived its benefits to lie in increasing learners' motivation and in encouraging participation by more reticent students. Feedback obtained directly or indirectly from learners suggests that some appreciated the independence and freedom to work at their own pace, while others did not like the linearity of LAMS sequences or wanted more direct feedback on their progress.

iii) Several participants engaged in some form of reflective activity either while designing a LAMS sequence or afterwards. However, while they recognised the importance of sharing their practice with others, technical and cultural barriers need to be overcome.

Links

Software and downloads

Installation of LAMS does need installation skills ! If you just want to play with LAMS we suggest getting a demo account with LAMS International.

• LAMS 1.0x (free for Win, MacOS X and Linux, Source code in GPL
  • Requirements: Java SKD 1.4.2, MySQL

• LAMS 2.0 Beta is available: Installation + download help.
  • See also the LAMS development Wiki. (but in dec 2006 this site was painfully slow
  • Here is a direct link to the UK mirror for the Windows version (but you still need the instructions above and this URL may change http://lamscommunity.org/2.0/rc2/win/LAMS-2.0_RC2.exe

• LAMS is, will or may be integrated into various platforms such as Blackboard (commercial), Sakkai or Moodle. DSchneider does not know if LAMS 2 Beta already works with Moodle (LAMS 1.x does).

General links

• LAMS Foundation, includes manuals, downloads, etc. This site is slow (dec 2006.)

• LAMS Wiki (Technical discussion and development of the new version of LAMS (Learning Activity Management System and dwoload information)

• LAMS Community.org. Maybe the most useful site currently

• LAMS International, provides commercial services around LAMS.

• LAMS Development Wiki

References

• Dalziel, James, Implementing Learning Design: The Learning Activity Management System (LAMS), Macquarie E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE), PDF

• Kraan Wilbert, (2003). Learning Design inspiration, CETIS article, HTML

• David Jennings (2005), Evaluation of Learning Activity Management Systems, HTML

• Liz Masterman, Stuart D. Lee (2005), Evaluation Of The Practitioner Trial Of Lams: Final Report, Learning Technologies Group, Oxford University Computing Services HTML