Learning Activity Management System

1

• Learning Activity Management System

2
First Students of Today

• Millennials
• Multitasking simultaneously surf internet,
  listen to music, text message, watch TV
• Like active learning rather than passive
  listening
• Absorb a variety of information from sources from
  different media

3
Millennials

• In a study of how age 12 to 17 use the internet,
  research has shown that 94 use the internet for
  school research, 78 believe that the internet
  can help them in their school work.
• 70 use instant messaging, 81 use email.
• Each day, many would have check for messages,
  sent sms and email, used mp3 players
• and that is before arriving at school.

4
Millenials

• Their greatest use of technology is outside of
  school.
• Technology is not part of their life, it is their
  life.
• They have not known life without computers,
  internet etc

5
  Matures (1900-45) Baby Boomers (1946-64) Generation X (1965-81) Net-Genners and Millennials (1982 - )
Influenced by War and Recession Postwar Optimism Workaholic Parents Technology
Typical Technology Vacuum Tube Radio Dial Telephone 78 rpm records Transistor Radios Mainframe Computers 33 and 45 rpm records CDs Emails Personal Computers MP3s Mobile Phones Personal Digital Assistants
Typical Characteristics Conservative Respect Authority Self sacrificing Community minded Optimistic High Energy Enjoy a challenge Driven to succeed Want to stay young Free and independent Balanced in Life Sceptical of inherited values Laid-Back Like Technology Optimistic Connected Experiential Want immediate gratification
Preferred Teaching and Learning Style   Emphasis on teaching by transmission Students are passive recipients Teachers are commanders and controllers Accent on memorisation and repetition Individual Learning Emphasis on teaching by transmission Students are passive recipients Teachers are commanders and controllers Accent on memorisation and repetition Individual Learning Emphasis on learning Students are active partners Teachers are facilitators and mentors Accent on discovery learning Collaborative learning Emphasis on learning Students are active partners Teachers are facilitators and mentors Accent on discovery learning Collaborative learning
6
Millennials

• prefer learning from hands-on experience, craves
  technology-generated education, and feels
  comfortable working in teams.
• "Millennial students do not learn in the
  traditional ways of 50, 30 or even 10 years ago,"
  said Xavier President Michael Graham.

7
Millennials

• To engage these students fully, we need to
  utilise the tools of their world, rather than
  trying to force the learning tools of our world
  on to them.
• That means using technology as part of their
  learning environment

8

• For many students, stepping into a classroom is
  like stepping back in time
• Technology is dragging staff into the 21st
  Century where their students are waiting for them
• Guy Wright, Kingscliff HS

9
What is LAMS

• LAMS is a revolutionary new tool for designing,
  managing and delivering online collaborative
  learning activities.
• LAMS is software that describes and manages
  sequences of collaborative learning activities
  (not just content)
• It provides teachers with a highly intuitive
  visual authoring environment for creating
  sequences of learning activities.
• These activities can include a range of
  individual tasks, small group work and whole
  class activities based on both content and
  collaboration.

10
What is LAMS

• A LAMS object consists of a sequence of learning
  tasks. (Learning Activity Sequence)
• Each sequence can contain a variety of tools.
• Tasks can be for individual or groups
• LAMS monitors students through the sequence

11
LAMS integration

• LAMS works well as a stand-alone e-learning
  system.
• It can also be integrated with other Learning
  Management Systems such as Moodle.

12
What is LAMS offer? for Teachers

• LAMS sequences can be stored, and hence re-used,
  adapted, etc
• Sequences can be shared with others.
• Progress of students can be monitored.
• Student submissions and responses can be viewed.
• Chat and forum activities encourage collaboration

13
What does LAMS offer for Students

• Students can work through tasks at their own
  pace.
• Collaborative tasks (Chat, forum) allow students
  to share ideas and discuss issues.
• Submited work can be tracked.

14
Learning Activitie Sequences

• There are three parts to a Learning Activity
  Sequence
• (1) Who is involved?
• (2) What content is needed?
• (3) How is the activity conducted? (What tools)

15
Available Tools
live chat session (synchronous discussion)
combines a live chat with a scribe tool for collating the chat groups view on questions created by the teacher. When used in small group mode, the tool creates parallel chat and scribe areas for small groups, then shows the outcome of each group on a whole class page
combination of Chat Scribe and Notebook (Public).
an asynchronous discussion environment for learners, with discussion threads initially created by the teacher.
The addition of a grouping activity to a sequence allows other individual activities to run in small group mode (rather than whole class mode).
create simple automated assessment questions, including multiple choice and true/false questions. These questions can be used for summative assessment with scores, or formative assessment with feedback.
This tool provides a journal for learners to record their thoughts on aspects of a sequence. These thoughts are viewable by the teacher in the monitor area. Learners have their own private notebook area (Scratchpad) which is available from the learner area (bottom left hand menu).
16
Available Tools (cont)
provides a way of giving simple text to learners.
allows teachers to pose a question to learners individually, and after they have entered their response, to see the responses of all their peers presented on a single answer screen.
provides a combination of Q A and Notebook (Public) (ie, journal).
combination of the Share Resources and Forum tools on one page.
allows teachers to prepare content for learners during the authoring process, such as URLs, zipped websites and/or individual files (PDF, PPT, etc).
allows learners to submit a file for assessment by the teacher, such as an essay, report, etc.
allows teachers to prepare online surveys for students to complete.
allows teachers to provide learners with a list of options to vote on, and then shows the collated learner responses.
combination of the Voting and Notebook (Public) tools.
17
LAMS Demo

• http//localhost8080/lams/

18
LAMS Server - Requirements
Minimum Requirements Standalone Small Server Large Server
Usage Individual User 1 or 2 classes with 30 users 10 or more classes with hundreds of users
CPU Intel P4 1.8 GHz or equivalent Intel P4 2.4 GHz or equivalent Intel P4 Dual 3 GHz or equivalent
Storage 1 GB 1 GB 1 GB
RAM 512 MB 512 MB 1 GB or more
Operating System Tested on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Red Hat EL, Solaris 9, MacOS X. May also work on other various Unix/Linux distributions. Tested on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Red Hat EL, Solaris 9, MacOS X. May also work on other various Unix/Linux distributions. Tested on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Red Hat EL, Solaris 9, MacOS X. May also work on other various Unix/Linux distributions.
19
LAMS Clients

• Network Connection to LAMS Server
• Browser
• Internet Explorer 5.5
• Firefox 1.0
• Safari 1.2
• Flash 7.0 or higher browser plug in
• Pop-up blocking disabled for LAMS site
• Cookies enabled

20
LAMS Software

• Current version 1.02
• MySQL 4.1
• Sun JAVA SDK 1.4.2
• All can be downloaded from
• http//www.lamsfoundation.org/downloads/

21
Further Information

• LAMS Foundation
• http//www.lamsfoundation.org/
• LAMS International
• http//www.lamsinternational.com
• LAMS Community
• http//lamscommunity.org

22
Sydney Region LAMS Project

• In 2006, schools will be invited to participate
  in a Project involving LAMS.
• Teachers involved will develop and share Learning
  Activity sequences on a range of KLA and stages.
• Further details will be sent to schools early in
  term 1, 2006