LAMS Frequently Asked Questions

LAMS Frequently Asked Questions

Open Source Launch, April 13th, 2005 - James Dalziel

NB: The LAMS FAQ will continue to evolve – feedback or further questions are welcome. Please send feedback/questions to james@lamsfoundation.org

1. Who is involved in LAMS? What are their roles?

There are three main entities involved in the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS). All are based in Sydney, Australia in affiliation with Macquarie University.

The LAMS Foundation Ltd is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. LAMS Foundation owns the LAMS software and related intellectual property. A Board of Directors, including James Dalziel and representatives of Macquarie University, currently manages the LAMS Foundation. In the future, it is anticipated that additional Board members will be added, particularly from non-commercial organizations that would like to be involved in the strategic direction of the Foundation and contribute significant funding towards its goals. The LAMS Foundation is a “virtual organization”, in that it has a Board of Directors and enters into various development and licensing agreements, but has no employees in its own right.

LAMS International Pty Ltd is a commercial services company set up to assist with implementation and technical support for LAMS, working in conjunction with the LAMS Foundation. It has the right to offer the LAMS Beta/Support Partner Program and LAMS support services, as well as commercial (ie, non GPL – see below) licenses for LAMS on behalf of the LAMS Foundation. In exchange, development of the core LAMS software by LAMS International Pty Ltd is owned by LAMS Foundation. LAMS International follows open source business models similar to those of companies like Red Hat Linux and MySQL.

The Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE) is a dedicated research centre focussed on e-learning technology and standards development within Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Professor James Dalziel (the inventor of LAMS) is the Director of MELCOE. MELCOE provides core R&D for the ongoing development of LAMS.

For historical completeness, it is worth noting a fourth entity – WebMCQ Pty Ltd – an Australian commercial e-learning company. WebMCQ collaborated with Macquarie University on the initial development of LAMS (based on the original conceptual work of James Dalziel and Donna Gibbs). In late 2003, WebMCQ agreed to transfer all intellectual property in LAMS to the LAMS Foundation, and the LAMS team at WebMCQ moved to MELCOE. Since this transfer, WebMCQ has had no further role in LAMS, and none of the staff that moved from WebMCQ to MELCOE have any ongoing role with WebMCQ.

2. Is LAMS free? When will it be freely available?

Yes. The LAMS source code was released as “open source software” (using the GPL) in late February 2005, and a free easy to use LAMS installer was released at the LAMS Open Source launch on April 13th, 2005. Anyone who wishes to take the publicly available software source code, and then compile it, install it, configure it and maintain it can use LAMS without incurring any fees. Alternatively, the LAMS installer (provided by LAMS International) provides a simplified installation process. For many organisations, it may be more cost effective to have LAMS International (the LAMS services and support company) provide support services for a modest fee, but this decision is up to each potential user/organisation – there is no compulsion to pay anything for using LAMS if you abide by the requirements of the GPL (the LAMS open source software license).

Prior to the release of the open source code in February 2005, the only way to get access to LAMS immediately was via the services offered by LAMS International, such as the LAMS Beta Partner Program. These services provided the LAMS software without any licensing fee, but included fees for support services to assist with deploying LAMS. This means that any trials of LAMS between July 2004 and February 2005 will require payment of some fees in the form of support services. After February 2005, it will no longer be necessary to pay support fees to gain access to LAMS. Since February 2005, the LAMS Beta Partner Program has been replaced by the LAMS Support Partner Program, which offers similar services. A range of other services and support packages will be available from LAMS International after the April 2005 launch.

3. What is “open source software”? What is the “GPL”?

Open source software is a term used to describe software where the source code (the fundamental instructions that make the software work) is publicly available to view, modify and use without charge. It is part of a widespread movement in software development that has proved successful at producing significant, robust and secure software. Two of the best-known examples of open source software are the Linux operating system, and the Apache web server, both of which are widely used globally today. Open source software is also known as “free software”, and although open source software is usually provided without charge, the meaning of “free” here is as in “freedom”, not as in without charge (“free as in freedom, not free as in free beer”).

Free/open source software is provided to users on the terms specified in the license that accompanies the software code. While there are now many different open source licenses available, there are two major categories, the “BSD” style license, and the “GPL” style license (eg, the GNU General Public License or “GPL”). In addition to the general concept of publicly viewable software code, both types of licenses are based on requirements that use of the software must be acknowledged in some form, and a disclaimer of any kind of liability for using the software.

The key difference between these licenses is that the GPL (but not the BSD) requires that any additions to the software made by third parties must also be released as open source software under the same terms as the original license (ie, the GPL) if the additions are distributed. This requirement normally helps to encourage a viable, growing community of developers contributing to the growth of the software from a common basis. This community development can also occur with BSD style licenses, although there is no license requirement on developers to “require” them to make their additions available to the community under the same license as the original system if they distribute their additions. The GPL requirement described above is sometimes called “share alike”, on the basis that others who wish to benefit from the initial open source software release are required to share their additions on the same basis as the initial release.

The Open Source Institute is recognised as the leading authority on open source licensing. It has a certification program for open source licenses to ensure that these licenses meet the principles of the Open Source Definition – a fundamental statement of open source principles. The GPL and BSD licenses are “OSI Certified” licenses, and hence when LAMS was released under the GPL in February 2005, it was released using an OSI Certified license.

4. What is “dual licensing” of open source software?

Dual licensing is a business model available to the original owners of the copyright in an open source software system that is provided under the GPL. It is based on the concept that the original copyright owners of a software system have the right to offer the system under two (or more) different licenses if they choose. This right is a byproduct of common law relating to copyright and licensing. NB: Dual licensing is only available to the original copyright holders of software code – you cannot offer dual license to someone else’s open source software.

This becomes relevant where, for example, a third party commercial software company wishes to integrate a GPL software system into a software product that they distribute. Under the requirements of the GPL, the third party commercial software company would be required to release their own commercial product as open source software under the GPL. While in some cases the commercial company may be prepared to do this, in many cases this may be against their commercialisation plans for their own software.

In this case, the third party commercial company could approach the copyright holders of the open source software and request an alternative license to the GPL. The open source copyright holders may then choose to provide a license other than the GPL to the commercial company, and this alternative license may not require the commercial company to make their own product available under the GPL if it is integrated with the open source software and distributed. In exchange for this alternative license, the open source copyright holders may choose to include additional license requirements, such as a requirement that the commercial company pay a license fee for gaining access to the software under the alternative license.

The dual licensing model is becoming one of the standard business models for open source software that uses the GPL. Companies such as MySQL (one of the world’s leading open source database provider), TrollTech and SleepyCat use dual licensing. LAMS has adopted this model to achieve the twin goals of providing commercial providers with an option to take advantage of LAMS without requiring them to make their own software available under the GPL; and providing a potential revenue stream to assist with the ongoing development of the LAMS software.

The ultimate purpose of the use of dual licensing by LAMS is to help create a sustainable long term model for LAMS based on its adoption by both open source and commercial software providers, and the use of fees from non-GPL licenses to continue to develop the system. If you are a commercial software vendor and are interested in a non-GPL LAMS license, please contact info@lamsinternational.com.

5. What is IMS Learning Design V1.0 Level A?

IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) is a specification developed by the e-learning specification development group IMS Global Learning Consortium. IMS LD is an XML-based description of requirements for e-learning based on the conceptual model of “people doing activities with resources”. It is different to other e-learning specifications/standards in that it supports sequences of “multi-learner” activities and environments, not just single-learner content. IMS LD was released in its first version in early 2003 (V1.0), and there have been no revisions to the specification to date (and there is no formal revision work currently underway). The specification is complex, and includes three levels of potential implementation (Level A, B and C).

The development of LAMS was based on the conceptual model of Learning Design, and on parts of the IMS LD specification. However, LAMS encountered a range of practical problems with the specification during implementation, so it was not possible to implement the specification in full in the original LAMS development. For this reason, LAMS is often referred to as being IMS LD “inspired” rather than a reference implementation.

The LAMS Foundation has committed to working on evolving the specification to help address the problems encountered in implementation (although this work is yet to begin within IMS). It is hoped that as the specification evolves to address problems identified in implementation, LAMS will be able to conform to the revised specification. In the interim, LAMS has committed to building an import and export feature for LAMS by July 2005 based on the Level A requirements of IMS LD V1.0 to assist with interoperability.

6. What kind of services does LAMS International offer?

Services currently on offer include:
- Training (face to face and online) in the use of the LAMS software and in pedagogical issues in implementing LAMS
- Technical support services (provided by email or, in certain contexts, by phone)
- Software updates/upgrades – provision of pre-compiled and configured versions of the software, together with bug fixes, patches, new releases, etc as they become available
- Hosting services
- Software development – for custom feature development or other software development tasks. NB: Any new features developed under the GPL are released to all users.
For further details about LAMS support services, contact info@lamsinternational.com

7. Is LAMS seeking funding for further development?

Yes. The various service offerings of LAMS International are designed to provide useful support services to individual educational organisations at a modest cost while at the same time helping to provide funding for further development of the LAMS software. If you are an individual educational organization who would like to support LAMS, we encourage you to join one of our trial/support programs to assist you with implementing LAMS, while at the same time helping us to continue its development. For further details of this option, contact info@lamsinternational.com

For larger organisations with a broad mission to support education, such as government education departments, charitable foundations, etc, LAMS is seeking assistance with core R&D funding. As giving way software for free is an expensive business, LAMS relies on support from organisations that have significant funding at their disposal to support the transformation of education. While the LAMS business model has been built to grow into a self-sustaining structure in the long term, further funding is important in the first three years to ensure LAMS achieves all of its potential benefits. For further details of this option, contact Professor James Dalziel at james@lamsfoundation.com

For commercial organisations who wish to benefit from including LAMS in their commercial offerings, LAMS provides opportunities to contribute funding towards further development through options such as non-GPL licensing, and certification of hardware and services offerings that incorporate LAMS. For further details of this option, contact info@lamsinternational.com

8. Who owns new intellectual property created for LAMS?

Core LAMS development by MELCOE or LAMS International automatically vests in the LAMS Foundation, ensuring that ownership of all core intellectual property for LAMS is held by a single, not-for-profit entity dedicated to this purpose. LAMS Foundation then releases the software as open source software under the GPL. Where MELCOE or LAMS International create new intellectual property for LAMS as part of projects (eg, government funded R&D projects), any outcomes of this development vest in LAMS Foundation to be released as open source software.

Since LAMS was released as open source software, any developer is free to add to the LAMS source code, provided that they abide by the conditions of the GPL. Ownership of any new additions to the software remains with the developer. However, any developer (or organisation) may choose to assign the additions back to the LAMS Foundation if they would rather it be managed as part of the central LAMS codebase.

Any “Learning Activity Sequences” created using the LAMS software (using the authoring environment) are owned by the author. Where authors create good examples of Learning Activity Sequences that they may choose to share with others, LAMS will encourage the use of Creative Commons licensing for these sequences.

9. Where is the LAMS source code available to download?

The link below allows you to download the full source code for the LAMS V1.0 release. The LAMS Foundation is planning a major public launch to celebrate the release of this code around March 2005 - further details will be available once the date is finalised.

To complement the public launch, LAMS International Pty Ltd will provide an easy to use installer program for LAMS V1.0 to assist users with installing and using LAMS V1.0 (this will be released on the day of the launch, and provided without charge).

Please note that the LAMS team has been developing a significant rewrite of LAMS (V1.1) for the past six months which is designed to be the basis for all future community development of open source LAMS. Originally the release of V1.1 was scheduled for February/March 2005, but is now planned for around May 2005. In the interim, technical documents about
the new design for V1.1 will be released to assist developers to prepare for the V1.1 architecture. As no further work is planned for the V1.0 release, we recommend developers do not work on this version - V1.1+ will be the focus for all future development of LAMS.

The LAMS source is available for download under the GNU General Public License (GPL):

lams_1.0_OS.zip (34.4 MB)

Copyright (C) 2005 LAMS Foundation

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

10. Does LAMS plan to collaborate with other open source e-learning projects?

Yes. LAMS is actively exploring collaboration with a number of open source development efforts, such as Boddington, Moodle, OKI, SAKAI and uPortal.

11. Is LAMS a commercial venture, or a charitable venture, or a combination?

Overall, it is a combination, with different organisations playing different roles. The LAMS Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation set up to own the core LAMS software, and to release this as open source software to the public benefit of education worldwide. The LAMS Foundation seeks funding from government and charitable foundations to support the ongoing development of the core LAMS software, and to release these developments as open source software. The LAMS Foundation is a “virtual organisation”, in that it does not employ any staff in its own right – it relies on MELCOE for R&D, and LAMS International for implementation services. As a not-for-profit organization, the LAMS Foundation is not a commercial venture.

LAMS International Pty Ltd is a commercial services company set up to provide implementation and technical support for LAMS deployment on a commercial basis. LAMS International also has the right, on behalf of the LAMS Foundation, to provide non-GPL licenses for LAMS under the open source dual licensing model. In return, all core LAMS software developed by LAMS International is assigned to the LAMS Foundation to be released as open source software. In the long term, it is expected that LAMS International will provide an ongoing revenue stream for further development of the LAMS software, and should this revenue prove to be large in the future, this revenue could also support research into and evaluation of the use of LAMS. LAMS International is a commercial venture, with a strong focus on providing services to assist in the uptake of LAMS.

MELCOE (the Macquarie E-learning Centre of Excellence) is a university research centre in e-learning technology based at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. It provides core R&D for the conceptual and technical design of LAMS. Both the LAMS Foundation and LAMS International receive general support from Macquarie University (in addition to specific support from MELCOE).

It is worth noting that the balance of commercial and non-commercial aspects of the overall LAMS model is important to its overall success. If only the LAMS Foundation existed, there might not be any services and expertise readily available to help organisations deploy and maintain LAMS, where these organisations did not have the technical capacity to do this themselves. There also may not be a sustainable business model to ensure the long-term viability of LAMS development once initial government/charitable foundation funding is completed.

If only a commercial software company existed, then LAMS might not be released as open source software. Even if LAMS was released as open source software, the commercial company would be required to pursue only commercial avenues of development, which might not be aligned with the pedagogical requirements of the evolution of the software. The long-term success of LAMS requires a careful balance of both commercial and non-commercial aspects – if it becomes too commercial, this may limit the pedagogical public good dimension of LAMS; if it becomes too non-commercial, it may become difficult to obtain technical support where required, and ultimately may result in the stagnation of LAMS development due to a lack of a sustainable business model.

12. What is the planned model for the LAMS open source software development process?

Once the open source code for LAMS was released in February 2005, it will be freely available to anyone who wishes to develop it in accordance with the requirements of the GPL.

In practice, during the early years of LAMS development, there will be two different areas of potential collaboration on open source development of LAMS – the core platform, and the activity tools. The core platform is a complex, highly inter-related software system which is still undergoing rapid evolution, and MELCOE/LAMS plans to lead the core R&D in this area for some time (and will seek R&D funding to continue this work, and to assist with funding for any external developers who become significantly involved in this work). The open source development approach to the core platform will resemble the “community source” development approach of projects such as Sakai.

The core platform will be separated from the activity tools via a “tools interface” (available for the LAMS V1.1 release onwards – planned for May/June, 2005), which will greatly simplify the task of building new LAMS activity tools without requiring developers to understand all of the details of the core platform. The activity tools area is a simpler, more discrete area for development, in that developers can build a single tool for LAMS in a relatively short period of time without necessarily having high level programming skills. In addition, all the existing LAMS tools developed for Version 1.1 will be released as open source code, and these will provide “reference code” for the development of modification to these tools, or as a guide for new tool development. LAMS is a J2EE application, so tool developers will need expertise in Java programming.

13. Is LAMS a Learning Management System (LMS)/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)/Course Management System (CMS)?

No – at least not in the usual sense. A typical LMS/VLE/CMS provides a course home page (or similar) with links to learning content/courseware and course administration features such as calendars, email, news, etc. In some cases, it may also include collaborative tools such as a forum of chat. In general, most LMS/VLE/CMSs are based around “single-learner” content and tasks (such as self-test questions) and course administration features – if there is any use of collaboration, it is generally limited, and based on a single tool on its own, such as a discussion forum linked to the course page. Many LMS/VLE/CMS systems also include user management and authentication features, and some include content authoring tools for building webpages, etc.

LAMS is focussed on a very specific aspect of e-learning – sequences of learning activities, particularly collaborative activities. LAMS provides rich functionality for designing a “flow” of learning activities, especially where these activities rely on collaboration between students to drive the learning process. LAMS is a comprehensive system for the design and implementation of learning activity sequences – it includes an authoring environment, a “run-time” environment for implementation of sequences with groups of learners, and a monitoring environment so teachers can see student progress in real-time (and view past activities). It also includes a user administration system for system administrators. LAMS can include content delivery (and quizzes) as single-learner activities within a sequence, and you can point to content held elsewhere from within a LAMS sequence via a URL.

However, LAMS does not attempt to replicate the course administration functionality of a typical LMS/VLE/CMS, and it does not have features for news, email, and calendar. It also does not provide content authoring tools for building webpages, etc. If teachers want these features in conjunction with LAMS, we recommend using a typical LMS/VLE/CMS, a Learning Content Management System (LCMS)/content authoring tool, and/or a website/portal according to the functionality desired.

14. Can I integrate LAMS with my LMS/VLE?

LAMS is easy to integrate with a LMS/VLE – you would just add a URL link in your LMS/VLE course area that points to the LAMS login page, and perhaps add a comment to the link such as “Click here to enter LAMS, and click on the sequence titled ‘History activities – weeks 3 & 4’ to start the sequence of learning activities for weeks 3 and 4.” A teacher could then repeat a similar link for other sequences of activities at other stages of your course.

It is also possible to integrate LAMS with Directories (eg, LDAP) and Single-Sign-On (SSO) systems so that students do not need to enter a name and password when they click the link to enter LAMS.

So if you have a website/portal/LMS/VLE that is meeting your general course administration needs, you can use LAMS to extend its functionality with collaborative learning sequences, and link to these via a URL (potentially incorporating some form of SSO). If you don’t want or need a website/portal/LMS/VLE, you can always use LAMS on its own, and use its existing user management features.

15. Can I author a sequence in LAMS and run it on a different LMS/VLE/CMS?

While it is easy to put a URL link to LAMS in your LMS/VLE/CMS, it is not currently possible to author a sequence in LAMS and run it on a LMS/VLE/CMS. This is because LAMS incorporates many new concepts in the way e-learning software operates (especially around sequencing and synchronisation of multi-learner activities), and no other systems at this time implement these features.

However, LAMS is based on the concepts of the IMS Learning Design standard, and so in time, as other systems implement this approach, it may be possible to author in LAMS and run on anther platform that also implements IMS Learning Design. Similarly, you will be able to author a sequence in another system and then run it on LAMS. This kind of ‘practical interoperability’ will take some time to develop, because there are many issues still to resolve in how IMS Learning Design is implemented (eg, there is no description in IMS Learning Design of the technical side of how activity tools behave), but long term, it should be an achievable goal.

16. How does LAMS relate to ‘Learning Objects’?

There are two major definitions of ‘Learning Objects’. One approach is that Learning Objects are aggregations of content that have stand-alone educational value. On this definition, you can point to or insert Learning Objects into a LAMS sequence of activities – in essence, LAMS allows you to wrap a sequence of collaborative tasks around the Learning Object content. This is similar to building a lesson plan around a set of content resources.

Another definition is that a Learning Object is anything digital that can be used (or re-used) for learning. This broader definition implies that a content object and a learning activity sequence are both types of ‘Learning Objects’ but of different kinds – one is a set of content resources, the other, a sequence description of collaborative activities. In either case, you could store the ‘object’ in a repository, and hence add meta-data to it, search for it, annotate it, adapt or re-use it, etc.

Regardless of which definition you prefer, it is worth recognising that a LAMS sequence of activities is quite a different kind of thing to a content resource, although both are important to e-learning. Some experts have gone as far as to describe a LAMS sequence as a fundamentally new category of digital object or media.

17. Can I share sequences I’ve built in LAMS with others?

Yes. There are two ways you can share a sequence you have built. First, when you save a sequence in LAMS, there are three possible areas to save it in: your “Private” area (which is only viewable by you); a “Group” area – which could be your Department/Faculty/etc (this is set up by your system administrator), or the “Public” area – which is viewable by all users on your LAMS server. If you place your sequence in the Group or Public areas, this will be viewable by others with access to this area of your server – and they can then view it, use it, adapt it, but not edit your original file it (only the original author can edit a sequence saved in a public area). Saving your sequences in these shared areas makes them available only to relevant users on your server – they are not viewable by people using a different LAMS server.

A second way you can share sequences is via the Import and Export feature in the File menu in Authoring. You can export a sequence as a file (typically it is quite small – around 20-50K, as long as no other resource objects are embedded in the sequence), which you can then store on a disk or on a network drive, or you could attach it to an email to send to a colleague. A colleague can then take the exported file, import it back into their LAMS server, and begin using it. This process allows you to share sequences with others who are not on the same LAMS server as you.

Exporting sequences as separate files means that by using a community website, like the LAMS Community, where you discuss the use of LAMS, you could upload examples of your sequences with your comments, and this would allow other users to download these and try them. In time, a wide range of communities sharing sequences and discussing their implementation is expected to grow from the use of LAMS using the LAMS Community website.

NB: In the current release of LAMS (V1.0), there is a bug that prevents any resources embedded into a sequence (eg, a PDF, Word document, set of web pages, etc) from being exported with the sequence when Export is used. This bug will be fixed in the V1.1 release. In the interim, users who wish to share sequences with embedded content objects are advised to either use URLs to point to content objects held outside LAMS (eg, on another website), or to provide the content objects separate from the sequence file, and advise other potential users of your sequence that these objects need to be uploaded separately once the sequence is imported.

18. Is LAMS just for schools? (…or just for higher education/vocational/corporate training/etc)

No – LAMS can be used in any education and training setting. Much of its initial use happens to be in high schools and universities, but it is equally applicable in primary/elementary schools, vocational and corporate training, and in adult/community learning. Over time we expect LAMS to be used widely across all education and training areas.

One of the problems in describing LAMS is using appropriate terms for all users: eg, an author may be a teacher in schools, a professor in universities, and trainer in vocational/corporate training, etc. LAMS materials tend to use terms such as “teacher” and “learner” for want of better all encompassing terms, and this leads some readers to assume LAMS is only for, say, school environments. This is mainly a limitation of language, not of the potential use of the software.

19. What is the conceptual background to LAMS?

A brief summary is as follows: the concepts of collaborative learning activities and “lesson planning” are as old as education itself, but the recent background to LAMS began in the late 1990s when researchers at the Open University of the Netherlands (led by Professor Rod Koper) reviewed over 100 different teaching and learning contexts in an attempt to determine commonalities across diverse educational scenarios. This ambitious research yielded some key insights into the fundamental structure of education, and led to the development of “Educational Modelling Language” – a language to describe this fundamental structure. The goal of this language was to provide a “pedagogically neutral” way of describing many different types of education.

These insights grew into a new field called “Learning Design”. In summary, Learning Design can be described in the deceptively simple phrase “people doing activities with resources/environments”. In essence, education is about individuals and groups learning together by conducting various activities, and these activities require resources (both content resources and activity resources/environment – such as a discussion forum). In addition, describing the “flow” of activities over time is an essential part of Learning Design, and the activities would not be limited to “single-learner” tasks (such as reviewing content or doing a quiz), but could also include collaborative tasks (such as discussion forums, chat, etc).

Educational Modelling Language (EML) was a first attempt at translating this new theory into a machine-readable technical language. A subsequent attempt, based on EML, was the work of the IMS Learning Design working group, which produced the IMS Learning Design Version 1.0 specification in early 2003.

The early concepts for LAMS were developed in late 2001/2002, and the development of the LAMS software occurred in parallel with the development of the IMS Learning Design specification, with the first functioning LAMS prototype completed at the same time the specification was released, and presented to the Valkenburg group (a Learning Design implementation group) in February 2003. Unfortunately, LAMS was unable to implement the new specification in full due to various problems with, and gaps in, the specification, and these were reported to the Valkenburg group for future revisions to the specification.

Since the demonstration of the prototype, the LAMS team have continued to develop the software to make it more robust and scalable, and to add new features. The first user trials began in the UK at Kemnal Technology College and in Australia at Macquarie University in May 2003. Since 2003, LAMS has been through an extended period of beta testing, and the system was released in its final Version 1.0 format in December 2004, with the source code released in February 2005.

The extent to which LAMS breaks new conceptual and technical ground in the field of Learning Design is still largely unrecognised. One of the major novel contributions to the field is the development of a suite of collaborative activity tools, and exploration of the technical requirements for tool development and sequencing/synchronisation within a Learning Design system. Current conceptual work is focussed on the technical description of a general “tools interface” for a Learning Design system – this is the core technical innovation of the LAMS V1.1 release planned for May/June 2005.

20. How long does it take to build a LAMS sequence? How long does it take to adapt a sequence that has already been built?

A typical sequence of activities that run over an hour of synchronous student activities, or a week of asynchronous student activities, take from 30 minutes to 2 hours to develop. However it is possible to design sequences in shorter and longer time periods, depending on the tools and content used.

Adapting a pre-built sequence can be a very rapid process, depending on the degree of adaptation required. A typical adaptation of an existing sequence for use in a different context takes from 5 to 30 minutes.

21. Can I use my existing e-learning content or ‘Learning Objects’ within LAMS?

Yes – the “Share Resources” tool in LAMS allows you to point to any e-learning content that is accessible via a URL (eg, webpages, resources on a CD-ROM, Learning Objects in repositories that can be accessed via a URL – eg the “Public URL” feature in the Intralibrary Learning Object Repository product). You can also upload into LAMS a zipped file containing a set of webpages – so if your e-learning content has been authored using a standard web authoring tool, and has a central webpage named index.htm in the root folder of the zipped file, it can be uploaded into LAMS. You can also upload single files into LAMS, such as PowerPoint slides, PDFs, word processed documents, photos etc.

The general concept of LAMS is that it provides an activity “wrapper” to wrap around your existing resources, be they individual files, websites or Learning Objects.

LAMS provides upload and delivery features for IMS Content Packages so long as they conform to the “index.htm” requirement (noted above). In V1.1, LAMS will support a wider range of IMS Content Package structures, and in V1.1 or 1.2, it will support SCORM objects.

22. Who was trialling LAMS as at July 2004 open source roadmap announcement?

There is a range of formal trials running as at July 2004. These include a trial of LAMS for up to 100 schools in the UK being conducted by the Specialist Schools Trust, in conjunction with the UK Department for Education and Skills, Kemnal Technology College and LAMS International Pty Ltd. There is also a parallel trial and evaluation being conducted by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) covering 16 higher education, 15 further education and several adult/community learning organisations. There are also a number of individual organizations trialling LAMS in the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

In Australia, there is a range of trials at Macquarie University and with surrounding schools and other educational organizations. There is also a trial being conducted by the Tasmania Department of Education. Again, a number of individual organizations are trialling LAMS, including the Australian National University and the University of Canberra.

In New Zealand, there has been particular interest in the LAMS from the library sector – there are trials running at the National Library of New Zealand and at Christchurch City Council libraries, both focussed on school use of LAMS.

Apart from the formal trials described above, there are many informal trials and evaluations of LAMS in progress throughout the world, and we anticipate hosting more formal and informal trials, and larger deployments, in the future.

23. Will LAMS provide interfaces for integration with other e-learning products?

LAMS plans to develop integration interfaces to assist with Single-Sign-On to both open source and commercial LMS/VLEs. Upcoming projects include integration with Boddington (OSS), Moodle (OSS), dotLearn (OSS), WebCT and Blackboard.

Results reporting from LAMS is currently available via exporting of a CSV file, which can be used with spreadsheet programs. Additional features for gradebook integration will be explored in the future.

LAMS in not expected to integrate with other LMS/VLE activity tools until these LMS/VLE implement the “tools interface” implemented in LAMS V1.1.

LAMS plans to provide repository integration features in the near future, based on collaboration with repositories such as Intralibrary, Harvest Road and Concord.

24. Can I preview LAMS sequences within the authoring environment?

Yes – in LAMS V1.0 it is a simple matter of saving your current work, then clicking the “Preview” button at the top right of the authoring interface, and this will immediately take you into a learner view of your sequence. You can then return to authoring, edit and save your changes, then preview the changed version immediately. This approach also avoids problems associated with “locking” of sequences when they are run in the monitor and learner environments.

25. Where can I read more about LAMS?

The are many resources about LAMS that are now available to complement the LAMS open source launch. See information on the two websites www.lamsinternational.com and www.lamsfoundation.org

26. Where can I find a reference manual for all features of the LAMS system?

The teachers guide is the reference manual for all LAMS tools and features – the latest version of this (based on the V1.0 release) is now available from http://www.melcoe.mq.edu.au/documents/LAMS.pdf

A learner guide is available from the “Help” link on all pages of the LAMS learner environment.

A separate manual dealing only with systems administration (including user account management) is available to relevant technical staff of organizations that are using LAMS.

27. I’d like to include a presentation of LAMS at a conference – who do I contact?

Please email info@lamsinternational.com

28. I think that it is great that Macquarie University is making LAMS available as open source software. Who should I thank?

While there are many people who have been involved in making this possible, the institution as a whole has provided generous support at many levels. If you’d like to say thank you, please email the Macquarie University Vice Chancellor – Professor Di Yerbury – on vc@vc.mq.edu.au and please cc: james@melcoe.mq.edu.au

29. Does LAMS require every student to have a computer?

Not usually, although it depends on how you design your LAMS sequence. You can build sequences that do not include any collaboration, and hence are completed by each individual student at their own time and pace. Apart from individual student sequences, you can build collaborative sequences which do not assume that more than one student is online at any one time by using an “asynchronous” approach to collaboration (eg, through the use of posting messages to discussion forums).

You can also design sequences where only a small number of students need to be online at the same time, for example, if you had four computers in your classroom, you could design collaborative activities based on one group of four students being online together at a time, but different groups of four over time (by rotating computer access) as part of a whole class collaborative sequence. Another option is to design sequences where two or three students sit together at a computer, and although only one student is named within LAMS, the students work together on their responses, comments, etc. However, if activities or quizzes within a sequence count for marks/grades, this approach may not always be appropriate (unless you intend to mark them together).

If you wish to run “synchronous” activities in real time in the classroom (or computer lab) with each student contributing their own individual responses (eg, live chat), then you will usually need one computer per student (or pair). This would require booking a computer lab with enough computers for each student or an environment where, say, every student has a laptop and network connection available to them.

The key to using LAMS most effectively with the computer resources you have is careful planning about the use of synchronous and asynchronous activities when designing your sequences.

30. Can I use LAMS in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard/data projector?

Yes, there are a number of beneficial ways of using LAMS with these other technologies. For example, before you start a class using LAMS, you could show the planned sequence to students from within authoring and discuss the plan for the lesson. You could even invite students to suggest changes or additions to your sequence (which you could implement on the spot) as an example of negotiated learning outcomes with students. A experienced and confident teacher might start with nothing in authoring, propose a topic for the sequence, and then design the sequence in collaboration with students for all to see, and then run it as agreed with students.

Another option is to show the output of various tools using the whiteboard/projector as a basis for discussion. For example, students could be given a maths problem to answer using the Q&A tool, with all answers collated and shown anonymously on the answer page of the tool. The teacher could project this for all students to see, and then discuss common misunderstandings, etc, based on the text of the various answers.

31. Can LAMS be used for blended learning (ie, a combination of online and face to face tasks)?

Yes – this is one of the most powerful applications of LAMS. For example, you could run some synchronous activities with students in a computer lab, and from time to time stop the online activities, and comment on these in face-to-face mode and/or get students to discuss certain issues face-to-face (rather than online). Another option for blended learning is to use LAMS for online activities prior to a face to face class/tutorial, potentially followed by further online activities after the class/tutorial, eg, using LAMS in preparation for an excursion of similar face to face event, with online followup activities after the face to face activity.

32. How do I suggest a new feature for LAMS?

Discussion of features will be conducted as part of the LAMS Community. In the future, this area will keep a public list of requested features and plans to implement them.

33. Does LAMS work with young children (eg, primary aged)?

Yes, although the current version of LAMS is quite “text heavy”, so this may make if of limited use with younger aged children in certain contexts. In the future, we hope to gain funding to develop more graphically-oriented collaboration tools (such as a version of the voting tool for voting on images by clicking on them, rather than checkboxes for text) which should enhance the appeal of LAMS for younger age groups. Nonetheless, some teachers have had great experience with LAMS already with younger-aged children.

34. Does LAMS meet accessibility requirements?

LAMS V1.0 has implemented W3C Level A accessibility requirements for the Learner interface (within the constraints of the tools we use such as Flash, and the functionality of LAMS). We welcome suggestions for improvement of any specific areas of accessibility for the LAMS Learner interface.

35. How does LAMS deliver and track access to content objects? Can LAMS deliver IMS Content Packages and SCORM objects?

In LAMS V1.0, the content tool (Share Resources) keeps a record of when a student clicks on “Finished” at the top of the page over a content object – which produces a simple record of completed or not (based on student self-assessment in clicking the “Finished” button). This is useful as a simple tool that can apply to URL pointers to content, files and whole sets of webpages.

In V1.1/1.2 we plan to add an IMS Content Packaging delivery tool, and a SCORM run-time environment for delivering SCORM objects. This may include tracking of SCORM progress into a teacher viewable format within the Monitor environment.

36. Can I use tools from elsewhere (eg, my portal, my LMS/VLE) inside LAMS?

It depends on the tool. If all that is required to use the tool is a URL link to it from within LAMS (eg, to a federated search tool), then you can do this now using the URL pointer in the LAMS “Share Resources” tool.

If the external tools needs to know who the person is that is being sent to it (eg, a discussion forum), then at the moment it is not possible to integrate this tool. In the future, LAMS may provide a feature for authenticating into external tools of this kind, but in many cases unless the tool is built to allow external use, then there may be additional problems with integration (this problem exists with most current LMS/VLE/CMS tools).

For V1.1, LAMS will release a general “tools interface” for “sequencable collaborative activity tools” so that an external tool can potentially run in LAMS. Once this interface is released, any tool that conforms to the requirements of this interface will be able to run in LAMS.

The request that LAMS be able to use tools from elsewhere is quite common, but this issue turns out to be far more complex than it initially appears. For a discussion of some of the technical challenges in this area, see the White Paper section of the Launch website for the paper presented at Educause Australasia in April, 2005.

37. LAMS seems very linear. Can it cope with less linear sequence structures? Can it deal with branching or conditional sequencing?

The impression that LAMS only allows for linear sequences is quite common, but not accurate – it is mainly a by-product of the limited time available for most demonstrations of the system, in which a simple linear sequence is normally all that can be shown.

Sequences that are not linear use the “optional box” feature, which allows considerable flexibility of pathways through sets of material according to student preferences, etc. This approach can be used to allow students to follow different activity or content paths according to their interests, or to allow for students to choose a mixture of individual and group tasks according to their learning style.

LAMS plans to implement branching or conditional sequencing in V1.2, due in late 2005. In the interim, the combination of boxes of optional activities plus instruction text from teachers has been sufficient for all simple “non-linear” requirements so far. Because LAMS focuses heavily on collaborative tasks, there are some special challenges in managing individual pathways when you need to bring students together for collaborative tasks from time to time. The main focus of LAMS in the near future will be flexibility using optional activities and synchronisation of group tasks, as opposed to the rich conditionality and branching for single learner content as provided in IMS Simple Sequencing (although we hope to include this kind of functionality in due course).

38. Is LAMS just for didactic teaching of a fixed group (eg, a class of 25-30) at a set time?

No, there are a wide range of potential uses of LAMS with large and small groups, in one or many different locations, and with didactic, constructivist and other approaches to teaching. Even since the earliest trials in 2003, Kemnal Technology College have examples of "homework" type use of LAMS which is not synchronous, as well as a wide range of synchronous lab based exercises with whole classes or small groups.

While LAMS does not have a simple didactic focus, it does rely on teachers to structure potential students activities (even when the structure is a flexible set of options), and when group work is a requirement, someone has to help structure the collaboration. In schools, this is often easiest if the teacher provides a structure to facilitate when and how collaboration is done, hence the value of the LAMS authoring environment.

39. Is LAMS only for humanities and social sciences, or is it also useful for maths and “hard” science?

While the collaborative and discursive nature of some LAMS tools makes them ideal for the humanities and social sciences, there are also many innovative ways of using LAMS in maths and “hard” sciences. In the early trials at Kemnal Technology College, it was quickly recognised that LAMS had great potential across the curriculum, not just in "discursive" topics (and not just in ICT teaching, for that matter).

40. Can LAMS be used for assessment, or is it only for activities?

LAMS currently includes two different formal assessment tools to include in sequences – a report/essay submission tool and a quiz tool (for multiple choice questions, true/false, etc). The quiz tool can be run in either formative mode (with optional text feedback as well as scores) or summative mode (with recording of scores that can be exported from LAMS as a text file for use in spreadsheets or gradebooks). The use of these tools allows formal assessment to be added to any sequence (and at any point in the sequence, including in multiple locations).

It is worth noting that due to the fact that LAMS records all activities of all students within LAMS, a teacher could decide not to use a separate formal assessment task (such as an essay) to “prove” than students have achieved a required level of learning. Rather, the teacher could assess all of the student’s activities and contributions over the life of the sequence as the basis of formal assessment. In other words, because LAMS records everything a student does within a sequence, it is not necessary to add an extra assessment task at the end of a sequence to “prove” that the student has learned (of course, an assessment task may still have value in its own right – such as an essay which forces students to crystallise their thoughts into a cogent argument presented in clear and concise language).

41. Can I change a sequence once it is running with students?

No – once a sequence has been “started” in Monitor, it becomes fixed for the life of this particular group. If you decided you wanted to change the sequence mid-way through, you could go back to authoring, open the original sequence, save a copy and the delete the early (completed) activities, change the structure of the remaining activities, and then start this as a new sequence for students (and get them to leave the earlier sequence half-way through, and begin the new sequence). While this may seem somewhat cumbersome, the ease with which changes can be made to sequences in authoring makes this reasonably practical.

One exception to this limitation is a new feature for some tools (Noticeboard, Q&A and Voting), which is the ability to check the option “define in Monitor” in the authoring environment. This allows a teacher to add to or change the text of certain tools (eg, Q&A, voting) while a sequence is already running. Although it is not possible to change the structure of the sequence in this case, the content within a tool can be changed. This is useful for circumstances where you wish to allow the outcomes of a previous activity to determine, say, the text of the question in a subsequent Q&A.

It should also be noted that the Share Resources tool can be set to allow teachers to add new webpages and/or files while the sequence is running, so long as this has been set at the time of authoring.

42. Does LAMS encourage good pedagogy? Does it ensure good pedagogy?

LAMS certainly doesn’t ensure good pedagogy – it is possible to build lousy pedagogy in LAMS just as much as it is possible to build good pedagogy.

It is hoped that LAMS encourages good pedagogy as a result of its activity-centric view of the educational process, coupled with its visual authoring environment that helps to make explicit to teachers the nature of their educational processes. However, the same ease of use in authoring may also sometimes lead to poor pedagogy if teachers just include collaborative activities for the sake of it, rather than as part of a carefully structured flow of content and activities that build towards an educational outcome.

43. I’d like to gain formal accreditation as a LAMS trainer. What courses are available?

From April 2005 onwards, there are three formal accreditation courses offered by LAMS International on behalf of the LAMS Foundation. For training in the use of LAMS, there are half day or full day certified “Introduction to LAMS” courses; and there is a full day certified “Advanced LAMS” course.

Separate from these courses is a 2-4 day “Train the Trainer” course to become a LAMS certified trainer – this course is provided on an ad hoc basis according to need. In the near future, a calendar of LAMS courses will be available, and it is expected that formal university courses (which could be counted towards a degree) in LAMS and Learning Design will be available. All official LAMS courses require certification from the LAMS Foundation, based on accredited teachers.

44. Is the release of LAMS as open source software designed to provide an open source reference implementation of the IMS Learning Design specification?

No. LAMS was not designed to be a reference implementation of the IMS Learning Design specification. The main focus of the original LAMS project was development of a range of collaborative activity tools, running in a sequence format, based on the concepts of learning design. As noted in a paper on the implementation of LAMS (see Educause Australasia 2005 article in the White Papers section of the launch website), we did try to implement the IMS Learning Design specification during development, but due to a range of challenges, this was not possible. The challenges encountered have been contributed back to the IMS Learning Design specification developers through the Valkenburg group to assist with future revisions of the specification (to date there has been no revisions). The decision to make LAMS available as open source was part of a strategy designed to provide the system to as many teachers and learners as possible for the public benefit of education. To assist with interoperability, LAMS will provide an import/export feature for IMS Learning Design Level A by July 2005.

[Frequently Asked Questions from the Learner Guide]

45. I’ve logged in but can’t see any activities, and it’s running really slowly.

You may not have the correct operating system. To run LAMS we recommend Windows 2000, or Windows XP or Mac OS 10.2 or above. It is also possible that your server is not operating properly, in which case you should contact your system administrator.

46. I can’t see the Progress Bar

The Flash 7 plug-in may not be installed. Quit LAMS and the browser. Restart Internet Explorer and log into LAMS again, and follow the prompts that help you to install Flash.

47. What if I exit a sequence, how do I get back in?

If you exit a sequence and want to resume your activity, click on the “Available sequences” area on the top left of the Learner window, and you should then be able to open the sequences to which you have been granted access.

48. Still having problems – what can I do?

Try quitting LAMS and your browser, and logging in again. If this does not fix the problem, make a note of the problem and your computer setup (type of computer, browser and Flash plug-in used) and tell your teacher/lecturer or send an email with these details to: info@lamsinternational.com

49. I’ve downloaded a file from the Shared Resources tool, but I can’t see it.

If you are on a Mac system, the file may have downloaded but not displayed online. Look on your desktop for the file or in the folder where your downloads normally appear.

50. What are experts saying about LAMS?

Listed below are some comments on LAMS from e-learning experts around the world:

“LAMS represents a major breakthrough and innovation in e-learning. It is exactly the kind of development we need if we are to succeed in transforming education through e-learning… Based on my own evaluation of LAMS, the feedback from Kemnal [LAMS pilot school], and the interest the current version has sparked among teachers and lecturers in schools, colleges and universities, I see a very significant opportunity for LAMS in the UK. It has the potential to be adopted by many, if not all, schools in due course. As a result of the Kemnal trial, there are plans for a national trial in 2004 via the Specialist Schools Trust involving potentially up to 100 schools.”
Professor Diana Laurillard – Director of the E-learning Strategy Unit, Department for Education & Skills, UK; Previously PVC Learning Technology & Teaching, Open University; author “Rethinking University Teaching”

“LAMS will revolutionise teaching and learning in this country [UK] and have a dramatic effect on raising levels of achievement. This is because students can tap into their existing skills with a medium they already understand…David Miliband MP, Minister of State for Education has visited Kemnal and used LAMS during his visit and joined in a sequence with a group of boys. He was impressed.”
John Atkins - Principal, Kemnal Technical College UK [LAMS pilot school]

“LAMS has a high quality and intuitive user interface through which faculty can create learning experiences based on diverse components. The UI marks LAMS as a viable product and sets it apart from the typical research prototype. Perhaps the litmus test is this: Those who have seen LAMS have been uniformly impressed with it… Macquarie can make a significant contribution by supporting and nurturing the LAMS project. In doing so, it will produce technology that is much needed by the community it serves and will also secure a significant roll in global efforts that are defining the future direction of learning technology.”
Dr Robby Robson - President, Eduworks Corporation; Chair, IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee

“Demonstrations of LAMS in the UK have already generated a great deal of interest and enthusiasm
and there is clearly a huge demand for tools of this type across the educational community… LAMS
has put a very powerful tool with great potential into the hands of the teaching and learning community.”
Lorna Campbell, Assistant Director, Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS)

“Over the past year it has become clear in the international e-learning community that there will be little real progress in making e-learning an everyday reality for teachers and students until technology makes the construction and delivery of learning much easier. It is this realisation that makes LAMS such an important strategic initiative. LAMS has become a focal point of interest nationally and internationally because it shows in such a powerful way how technology can be applied to the development of learning activities.”
Professor Neil McLean, Director IMS Australia and Board Member, IMS Global Learning Consortium

“…the pedagogical principles around which LAMS has been developed do, in my view, reflect the very best of “best practice” in current educational thinking, especially as applied to the online environment. I know of no other product that has achieved this as successfully as LAMS.”
Derek Wenmoth - Manager, eLearning Development Centre, The Correspondence School, NZ.