JISC

As part of the e-Learning and Pedagogy programme, a Review of Learning Design Tools has been carried out. A draft report of this study is due for release mid-June 2004. The principle aim of this report is to review and evaluate currently available software tools related to learning design, of which LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is one. As part of the theme of activities, 'Designing for Learning', an evaluation of LAMS will be carried out, with the following aims:

• to evaluate the use of LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) by practitioners, instructional and course designers, and learners in various UK education contexts and sectors
• to offer a selected group of practitioners the opportunity to study and evaluate LAMS in their educational context and institutional environment

Objectives

• to evaluate the use and suitability of LAMS as an activity-based e-learning tool across a range of education sectors, for example, in a sixth form college; a further education college, an adult and community college, and a higher education institution
• to provide JISC and the e-Learning and Pedagogy programme with recommendations (a) for practitioners designing and delivering e-learning activities and (b) for the developers of supporting software, systems and standards

This evaluation of LAMS would form part of a wider evaluation of learning design tools as identified in the Review of Learning Design Tools.

Context

In March 2003, Kemnal Technology College was asked by the DfES and MELCOE, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) to pilot a new e-learning tool called the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS), inspired by the IMS Learning Design specification. Kemnal Technology College is located  in Sidcup, Kent and is an 11-18 boys comprehensive. Two years ago the Principal, John Atkins, realised that the school faced substantial challenges.  To meet these, wide-ranging changes had to be made across the school if it was to succeed.

e-learning was a major focus for this activity and has included the installation of interactive whiteboards in every class, provision of laptops for each teacher and the development of an intranet and virtual learning environment.  This has made a significant impact to the schools capacity for e-learning and, in March 2003, they built on this by embarking on this new development.  Kemnal was interested as the system had been designed to improve the effectiveness and retention of learning through online group activity and they felt that this would be an attractive medium to students.  They were also interested to see how it would stretch students’ cognitive skills and whether it could make a difference to student participation in class. The project involved using LAMS across key stages 3, 4 and 5 in the subjects of maths, technology, ICT, science, geography and history. The Head of e-Learning undertook an initial evaluation of the technology and nominated 6 staff members to act as ‘pioneers’. This took place during summer term 2003.

Kemnal have reported positive benefits in using the system with their students and are planning to roll-out training to support the LAMS pilot for the Specialist Schools Trust. As part of the planned training in June/July 2004, the college has offered JISC two one-day training events for 20 delegates per session on the use of LAMS. This would provide the opportunity for practitioners from post-16 community to evaluate the use of LAMS for their educational context.

Phase 1
The initial phase of the evaluation started in July 2004, and offered forty practitioners from further education, adult and community learning and higher education institutions, training in the use of LAMS, sponsored by the JISC.  These practitioners were comfortable with using technology and may already be familiar with using e-learning to support their teaching. All practitioners completed an expression of interest form and a   pre-training questionnaire, providing information on their intentions for using LAMS within their institutions. Representatives from the JISC Regional Support Centres and NIACE participated in this the training events together with a representative from Techdis, so as to ensure accessibility issues were addressed.  Kemnal Technology College who have staff accredited as LAMS trainers provided the training. The training covered an overview of LAMS, and guidance on its use. These initial training sessions also offered opportunities for the JISC e-learning and Pedagogy Team to collect initial evaluation data. A follow up training event for those practitioners who missed the events in July was held at Kemnal in November 2004.

Phase 2
The second phase of this evaluation is running from September 2004 to March 2005, and will involve the trained practitioners using LAMS in their own institutions with groups of learners, or cascading the training to other staff.   Practitioners have access to a dedicated server hosted within the UK. Technical support has been provided by a dedicated technical support officer based at the Specialist Schools Trust. A research team (Dr Stuart Lee and Dr Liz Masterman) based at the Learning Technologies Group, University of Oxford has been appointed as the evaluators for this project. Data is being collected through structured questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and observations, over a six-month period covering pre-exposure through the use of LAMS in real learning contexts. The key question for evaluation is: Does LAMS support effective practice in designing for learningexperiences. A user group for LAMS users in the UK will also be established to facilitate discussion on the use of the tool. The evaluation study is also making use of the case study template developed by the e-Learning and Pedagogy strand, for describing instances of LAMS in use, as a further means of validation.

This phase will ensure more detailed evaluation data on the tool and more importantly, on the pedagogic models of e-learning it supports. Evaluation feedback will also be obtained through the facilitation of the LAMS Evaluation workshop to be held on 11 January 2004, where the practitioners will get together to share their experiences. A mailing list for LAMS users (eped-lams@jiscmail.ac.ukon) the trail has been established to facilitate discussion on the use of the tool. Regular meetings have been held with the Specialist Schools Trust (SST), who with Becta and CRIPSAT, are conducting a parallel evaluation study of LAMS being piloted at their schools.