Introducing LAMS: An EML/LD “inspired” system

1. Introducing LAMS: An EML/LD “inspired” system James Dalziel Executive Director, WebMCQ Pty Ltd Adjunct Professor, Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence Representative, Educational Technology Standards Australia

2. Background: The COLIS project • Demonstrator environment integration of • Portal/Directories/Single-sign-on • Learning Object Trading Exchange • Learning Object Management System/Repository • Learning Management System • Federated search gateway/E-reserve/Digital library • Conceptual development • The Learning Object Lifecycle • What is a Learning Object anyway?

3. Authority Creator Arranger Infoseeker Learner Facilitator COLIS participant COLIS Global Use Case: COLIS Launch Version (Oct 02) Universities Academics (Out of scope) IPR S WebCT / WebMCQ IPR S / FDi IPR S / FDi IPR S / FDi WebCT/WebMCQ Academics (Out of scope) WebCT/WebMCQ CA/WebMCQ WebCT / WebMCQ / FDi Academics (Out of scope) Universities Prescribe Author LO Submit to LOX Outcomes/ Competencies Design Learning Activity Search LOX Search via Gateway Review Licence Review Meta-data Download LOs Obtain Links Quality Assurance Package New/ Modified LOs Structure LOs & Activities Structure Assessment Organise Student Roles/Groups Student Login Student Searches Do Learning Facilitate Learning Do Assessment Facilitate Assessment Record

4. Run-time tool description XML Learning Object/Package Meta-data XML Data interchange XML “Rendering” XML

5. Describing Learning Activities • Based on “Educational Modelling Language” (EML), developed by OUNL • Three parts to a learning activity • (1) Who is involved? • (2) What content is needed? • (3) How is the activity conducted? (tool/sequence)

6. A Learning Activity Sequence • (1) Students individually consider “What is greatness”? • Enter a few sentences of initial thoughts • (2) All students then see all responses (anonymous) • Enter personal reflections on all responses (not made public) • (3) Students asked to consider 3-5 “great people” • Enter 3-5 people (individually), system collates responses • (4) All students see list of responses and ranking • Enter personal reflections on all responses (not made public) • (5) Students divided into 4 groups of 5 to consider an aspect of greatness • Discussion board environment for each group for a week

7. A Learning Activity Sequence • (6) While in discussion group, each group is given content about greatness to consider (Learning Objects) • (7) Before final class, each group meets for 20 minutes in a chat room to finalise thoughts • Once finalised, the group writes brief summary • (8) Summaries posted to class noticeboard • Personal reflections on all responses (not made public) • [Possible classroom (or chat room) general discussion] • (9) Each student writes report on initial question, using personal reflections and group discussions • Reports submitted to teacher via system • Teacher grades reports and provides feedback, returned to student

8. LAMS Demo • What is Greatness? • Student perspective • Teacher/monitor perspective • Authoring perspective

9. Issues/Problems (1) Need more tools (services), and descriptions of tools (and potentially tool instantiation/setup XML descriptions); (2) Need ways for one tool to pass information to another tool (with possible processing of information in between tools); (3) Need a user grouping concept, not just a role concept; (4) Need an ability to pass roles/groups and tool information across Acts; (5) More detailed concepts of sequencing within "Acts”, including within-Act multi-learner synchronisation, and SS (6) More development of how a teacher monitors and approves actions in real-time during a complex, multi-task (including dependencies) activity sequence.

10. Student (“What is Greatness?” Use Case)

20. Monitor

24. Author