Figure 1: Adding a LAMS sequence as a Moodle Activity
by: Fiona Malikoff, Ernie Ghiglione, James Dalziel - MELCOE, Macquarie University
with assistance from Martin Dougiamas, Moodle.org
June 2005.
Moodle is a Course Management System for managing flexible communities of learners through a dynamic website. LAMS is a Learning Design system for creating and running structured sequences of collaborative learning activities. Moodle and LAMS are complementary e-learning systems, as illustrated by the examples below.
The foundation for integration between Moodle and LAMS is Single-Sign-On, meaning that only one name and password is needed for each user across the two systems. There are three further points of integration:
Note: the screenshots below are taken from a live prototype implementation of LAMS and Moodle integration. Some minor aspects of this integration might change in the final version.
LAMS can be used within Moodle as one of its activities. Once LAMS is integrated within Moodle, it will allow the teacher (or course designer) to select LAMS as an activity. Figure 1 shows how a teacher using the Weekly Course Format can add a LAMS sequence as an activity for the Week 25 May - 31 May.
Figure 1: Adding a LAMS sequence as a Moodle Activity
Once the teacher selects LAMS from the drop-down activity menu, the following page presents the available sequences for that teacher (see Figure 2). The sequences are presented in the three LAMS Workspaces:
- Private: Teacher's private area (or folder)
- Public: Shared folder across all teachers on a given LAMS server
- Organisation/Department: Shared folder across the main organisation or department for that teacher.
Once a teacher selects a workspace, the "Select Sequence" drop-down menu is populated with the Learning Designs that are available to the teacher in that workspace. The teacher then selects the relevant sequence from the menu.
The teacher can also set the name and description he/she wants the students to see in Moodle for the chosen sequence.
Figure 2: Adding/Editing a LAMS Sequence from Moodle.
Note that the buttons underneath the description textbox allow the teacher to edit that sequence or create a new sequence. If either of these options are chosen, a pop-up browser window will display the LAMS Authoring environment (see Figure 3). The teacher can then create or edit a design and once it is saved in LAMS, it can be chosen in Moodle by closing the LAMS window and clicking the "Refresh the design list" button to re-populate the "Select Sequence" drop-down menu.
Figure 3: Creating a LAMS Sequence from Moodle.
Once a sequence is selected, the teacher enters the corresponding name and description (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Selecting a LAMS Sequence as a Moodle activity.
After the teacher selects the sequence and clicks on "Use the selected sequence" button, the next page displays the Name and Description given to the sequence and links to the Leaner's and Monitor's interface in LAMS (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Teacher view of a LAMS activity in Moodle (includes LAMS Monitor view in pop-up window)
The Course page now will display the LAMS sequence as a Moodle activity (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: a LAMS Sequence added to a Moodle Course as an activity (see "Exploring Greatness" in Week 1).
When students click on the LAMS activity in the course page (see Figure 6), they will be presented with the description of the sequence and a button to access it (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: Student's view of the link to a LAMS Sequence in Moodle (includes LAMS Learner's view in pop-up window).
If the teacher clicks in the sequence, he will see links to the Leaner's and Monitor's interface (see Figure 5).
Another way of integrating LAMS in Moodle will be by using the new LAMS Course Format. When creating a Moodle course, a teacher can select "LAMS Course" as the Course Format (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: Using a LAMS Course Format.
The LAMS Course Format loads the LAMS Learner's interface as the center of the course (see Figure 9). Note that the teacher also can use other Moodle Activities in addition to LAMS (eg, see the Moodle Forum LAMS in Moodle at the bottom of Figure 9).
Figure 9: Using a LAMS Course Format.
Students can click on any of the sequences available for them in the LAMS Learner's interface (see top left of Figure 9), and once a sequence is selected, the student begins the first LAMS activity for this sequence (as shown on Figure 10).
Figure 10: Running a Sequence.
Once a student begins a LAMS sequence, he/she can do the entire sequence from within the LAMS Course Format. Figure 11 shows the second step in this LAMS sequence, a Q&A activity.
Figure 11: Using a LAMS Sequence within Moodle.
Once a LAMS sequence is running within Moodle (either as an individual activity, or via the new Course Format), it is possible to link from a LAMS sequence to an existing Moodle activity. For example, if a teacher that wants to use a Moodle Forum as the third activity in a LAMS sequence, he/she can use the LAMS Share Resources tool to insert a link from within LAMS to a Moodle Forum (see Figure 12 and 13). NB: The Moodle Forum needs to be set up in Moodle first, then the link to it inserted into LAMS. LAMS is not able to create a new Moodle forum directly.
Figure 12: Using a Moodle Activity within a LAMS Design.
Figure 13: Using a Moodle Activity within a LAMS Design.
Figure 14: Using a Moodle Activity within a LAMS Design.
Once the Moodle activity is completed, students can then progress to the next LAMS activity in the sequence (see Figure 15). In this way, it is possible to create a sequence that is a mixture of LAMS and Moodle activities.
NB: This integration between Moodle and LAMS is simply a URL link. LAMS is not able to monitor or control student actions inside the Moodle activity this is only possible for LAMS own activities. Also, the Moodle activity needs to be created first in Moodle, and then linked to from LAMS LAMS cannot create activities in Moodle directly. However, in the future LAMS and Moodle plan to investigate advanced tool integration.
Figure 15: Using a LAMS Course Format.