Forum Getting Started: Re: Adaptive LAMS?

our group in Italy is also extremely interested in a future adaptive version of LAMS with branching and grouping functions. Am I right in thinking they're foreseen for version 1.1? It's a bit cheeky of me to ask with 1.0.2 due out this week, but have you got any idea of the time frame for 1.1, even in rough terms? One last technical question for you - does the introduction of these new features necessarily entail a move closer to levels b and c of IMS LD?

Thanks,
Jeff

Posted by Jeffrey Earp

Yes, the grouping functions will be available in 1.1. That means that you'll have three ways of using groups: you can select which students go in each group (eg: Tom and Benito in Group A; Mary and Jerry in Group B), the system can randomly assign students to groups (this is the current way we support groupings in the current version of LAMS) or you set the maximum number of students per group (eg: 5 people per group only).

Branching support will be built in 1.1. However the interface on how to use it and define branches will not be available until 1.2.

> It's a bit cheeky of me to ask with 1.0.2 due out this week

Well, for all you Mac users, LAMS 1.0.2 has been out for a while. But the "official" release has not been done due to administrative issues which we are trying to nail this week.

I know, I've been saying this for a while, but releasing a new version involves quite a lot of stuff around it that needs to be finalized (press releases, repackaging and testing installers for all the supported platforms, etc). I can't tell you how frustraiting this is, but hey, it's part of a new release.

Regarding timeline for 1.1, we aim to have an alpha version before the end of the year. This will just a very simple demo on the new LAMS 1.1 architecture that will show people that want to create LAMS tools how it works and how they need to go about writting tools using the new LAMS Tool's API.

Then around Feb 2006, we aim to release a beta1 version of LAMS 1.1. This should be a testing version that will available for people to download and help us debug it and fix all remaining bugs. Once the betatesting is over, then we'll be close to something that looks like the final version of 1.1.

> does the introduction of these new features necessarily
> entail a move closer to levels b and c of IMS LD?

Well, despite the fact that LAMS 1.1 will export sequences in IMS LD level A, let me answer with another question for you:

What does it mean to you if LAMS is able to export sequences in IMS LD level A, B and C?

IMS LD is a notation and description language that it was not originally build to deal for run-time mode (how you "play" a sequence to a user). Therefore, even if LAMS can export all levels of IMS LD, it might not be of much use.

Ernie

Posted by Ernie Ghiglione