ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with the history of LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) as a new kind of e-learning design tool, going on to discuss the principles used for the design of the LAMS Community, and how they differ from those which inform traditional approaches for learning object repositories. Within the LAMS Community the focus has been on creating a community space in which barriers to exploiting Learning Designs are removed and sharing among teachers is fostered. Based on careful observations of the community in action over the previous six years, the author discusses what has been learned about how teachers use and reuse Learning Designs. As well as creating easy ways to preview, search, tag, rate, license and discuss designs held within the LAMS Community, the author finds that teachers value advice on versioning generic templates for their discipline and the opportunity to share designs within a closed community of close colleagues. Dalziel’s concluding reflections complement Masterman’s (Chapter 4) reports on interviews with teachers talking about how they prepare and share designs with trusted colleagues within their discipline. It can be seen how the sharing and reuse of Learning Designs could be facilitated by supporting teachers to combine generic designs with methods and content that meet the needs of their specific discipline communities.
