What Is a Learning Information System (LIS)?
Teachers are constantly being urged to "differentiate" or "individualise" the curriculum, so that all learners can succeed on tasks and materials at their own optimum level of challenge. However, especially in large classes with a wide range of ability, actually doing this presents huge difficulties in the time available.
How can the class teacher closely monitor the day to day activity of all their pupils, to check that both the quantity and quality of such activity is optimally effective, and to enable teacher intervention to shape it towards greater effectiveness?
Computerised "Learning Information Systems" (LIS) provide teachers with a curriculum-based assessment tool to enable them to achieve this otherwise daunting task.
A Learning Information System enables learners to take curriculum-based assessments at the computer whenever the learner and/or teacher feel they are ready. The LIS delivers assessment adaptively, investigating only the relevant areas chosen for the individual learner. In some cases, the LIS responds to each learner so that only items which are neither too hard nor too easy and which discriminate well are presented. This greatly shortens the time taken to self-assess, and protects the learner from any sense of struggle or failure. The Learning Information System is specifically intended to have strong formative effects on subsequent learning.
The LIS then gives detailed feedback on performance - to the student, to the teacher, and to any other interested parties such as the parents. When the performance is competent and achieves the benchmark standard, this is made immediately evident to the learner. Where the performance shows a need for further practice or teacher intervention, the LIS highlights this.
Learning Information Systems do not incorporate computerised teaching - they leave the content, form and style of teaching to the teacher's professional judgement. Note that Learning Information Systems (LIS) are not to be confused with "Integrated Learning Systems" (ILS). By contrast, Integrated Learning Systems deliver both computerised teaching and computerised assessment of only that teaching - they tend to be very expensive and have been found effective in the UK only in mathematics.