Learning Design with LAMS

Mark Johnson

What is Learning Design?

• Learning Design is about the sequencing of activities for learning– Inspired by lesson planning– Concerned with the social context of learning

• In focussing on sequences and activities, it is distinct from other e-learning initiatives which privilege content transmission over social engagement.

We are in a process…

• Learning Design is evolving• There have been some attempts at

establishing specifications for what it is:– Educational Modelling Language (EML)– IMS Learning Design

• There have been some attempts at creating tools to realise it:– LAMS– Reload/CopperCore

The Learning Design Community

• Learning Design has attracted a wide constituency of developers and teachers across Europe– Partly helped through the UNFOLD project at

CETIS of 2004/5– There is a lot of experimentation going on

amongst teachers and e-learning practitioners

Why is it important?

• The emphasis on activity and social context in learning is distinct from other areas of e-learning

• Fundamentally it embraces workflow technology and applies it to education

• With an increasing emphasis on services in e-learning provision, Learning Design offers a service-oriented mechanism for coordinating and monitoring learners independently of any instrumentation that the learner may have access to.

• This is fundamental to enabling the shift from the provision of learning opportunities from an institution-centric context (i.e. WebCT) to a learner-centric context (Personal Learning Environments)

Learning Design and LAMS

• LAMS embodies the basic principles of Learning Design, but it prioritises usability over complexity

• It is therefore a good tool to introduce the basic concepts of LD, although it has some deficiencies.

• But the important thing is to experiment!!!

Getting LAMS

• Available from www.lamsfoundation.org

• It installs a web server and the LAMS services, a database, and the LAMS front-end.

Producing a Design

Monitoring and Coordination

• LAMS provides a number of facilities for monitoring and coordination of learner activity.

Tracking Learner Progress

Does it work?

• Some things do, some things don’t…

• Dependent on learner context

• LAMS has some particular deficiencies which are not shared by IMS LD

• But it is accessible…

• We need to know more about it – the only way is to experiment!

Towards a deeper conception

• Learning Design puts the focus on Teaching Strategies which involve the engendering of change in students through coordinating them through a series of activities over time.

• Most of the time as teachers, we don’t think about this – and yet we all do it: – first give an introduction..– now get them doing something..– now reflect as a group on what they’ve discovered…

The formation of strategy

• A strategy requires that the teacher has an idea of what the learner is before they embark on their programme.

• Teachers bring knowledge about how learners react in certain social situations and activities, about what is boring, about what is exciting

• …And they have an idea of the change that they wish to produce in the learners.

Strategy and Models

• A strategy is formed on the basis on an understanding about what it is that is being intervened in.

Strategy

Model

• The interplay between Strategy formation and models results in instructions for action…

Strategy

Model

Action Coordinator

Strategy

Model

Action Coordinator

Learners

Coordination/Attenuationcommandsfeedback

A VSM Characterisation5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

Strong Attenuation5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

Strong Attenuation.. “Now do as I say!!”

5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

Getting bored…?5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

Weak attenuation.. “Discuss amongst yourselves…”

5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

Self-organisation of learners5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

From weak attenuation to chaos..5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

A Special Case: the ‘Aesthetic object’

5. Strategy

4. forecasting

3. Day-to-day

1.Components

2.Controlcommand

monitoring

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

The fluctuations of structure produced by a learning sequence creates an environment of constant challenge to the individual.

The choice for the learner is always whether to adapt and survive within the learning environment, or to reject their commitment to their learning.This decision is made in the context of other communities of practice the learner belongs to.

The effectiveness of the strategy of a learning sequence is to create environmental challenge in such a way that learners choose to adapt rather than reject their learning commitment.

Conclusions• LD offers an opportunity to critically explore aspects of teaching and

learning which are currently under-investigated: Issues relating to teaching strategies are all highlighted by the development.

• Deficiencies of LD– Lack of monitoring and dynamic adaptation of strategy– …Is this an implementation issue (and can be fixed)

• Praxis with LD technology (including LAMS) is the only way of establishing effective deployments: experimentation is vital

• LD offers learner monitoring which outstrips the facilities of the VLE• LD’s service-oriented architecture means that it is in concert with

current developments in the personalisation of technology. It can also embrace new standards developments like IMS Common Cartridge

• To focus on LD is to focus on the provision of teaching and learning services

Questions