One presentation from the well-known "MetadataTheory" presentation set, focusing on learning objects.

1. Ground Floor
Learning Objects
Preliminary discussion
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2. Structure
• How it all started
• Definition of a Learning Object (LO)
• General Issues on Learning Objects
• Rights
• Learning Object Economy
• Concluding Thoughts

3. Origins
• The idea is not that new!
– Gerard (1969) in a surprisingly visionary statement
early in the history of computer-based instruction
describes how “curricular units can be made
smaller and combined, like standardized Meccano
[mechanical building set] parts, into a great
variety of particular programs custom-made for
each learner”

4. Initial Goals for “instructional units”
• Adaptivity: Objects must be adaptive to the
individual,
• Generativity: They must be able to be
combined into bigger units with limited effort
rather than be pre-composed,
• Scalability: They must offer the potential of
reaching “industrial” production levels
without proportional increases in cost

5. Origins
• The name comes from two arenas of
professional practice:
– “Object-oriented” programming, in which bits of
code are bundled into reusable bundles that have
a discrete functionality and simple properties

6. Origins
– “Learning objectives,” which offer simple statements of
desired learning and performance outcomes that consider
behaviors to be demonstrated as a result of a learning
intervention, the conditions under which the learning is to
be demonstrated, and the degree of mastery that will be
expected from that performance

7. Digital bits of learning!
• Digital “bits” of learning content, packaged
appropriately with bits of code to make them
easy to find and interoperable in a variety of
contexts as a way to address the need for
rapid and flexible learning

8. What is a learning object?

9. Define: Learning Objects
• any entity, digital or non-digital, which can be
used, re-used or referenced during technology
supported learning (LTSC)
– Too broad for our purpose
– Entity? What’s that?
– Learning objects are defined in context

10. Non digital
Used during technology supported learning
Digital
Used during technology supported learning

11. Define: Learning Objects
• Learning objects are information resources or
interactive software used in online learning
(Nesbit)
– Where is “learning” in information resources
– What if the software is not interactive?
Active Learning
Passive Learning
Online
learning
Offline
learning

12. Define: Learning Objects
• Learning object is an information object that
always includes some kind of learning
objectives, outcomes, assessments and other
instructional components (Metros & Bennet)
– Introducing the instructional aspect
– What about re-using it?
Part of my amazing lesson plan on ancient Greek pottery,
written in ancient Babylonian! Want to use it? I have it also
on file, which is a “.gthi” file type!

13. Define: Learning Objects
• a learning object is any grouping of materials
that is structured in a meaningful way and is
tied to an educational objective (Johnson)
“Materials”
“Structured in a meaningful way”
Educational objective: “Learn to count”

14. Define: Learning Objects
• a digital file (image, movie, etc.) intended to be used
for pedagogical purposes, which includes, either
internally or via association, suggestions on the
appropriate context within which to utilize the object
(Sosteric & Hesermeier)
– How we describe this context?
– Is this metadata?

15. Define: Learning Objects
• Independent chunks of educational content that
provide an educational experience for some
pedagogical purpose
• These chunks are self contained, though they may
contain references to other objects; and they may
be combined or sequenced to form longer
educational interactions
• These chunks of educational content may be of
any type – interactive, passive – and they may be
of any format or media type
• A learning object is not necessarily a digital object
(Quinn)

16. Define: Learning Objects
• any reusable digital resource that is
encapsulated in a lesson or assemblage of
lessons grouped in units, modules, courses,
and even programmes. A lesson can be
defined as a piece of instruction, normally
including a learning purpose or purposes
(McGreal)

17. Typologies of “objects”
• Not everything is a learning object
Anything Anything Digital
Anything for
Learning
Specific Learning
Environment
Asset Content Object Educational Object
Reusable Learning
Object (RLO)
Component Information Object Learning Object Unit of Learning
Learning Resource Knowledge Object Unit of Study
Media Object
Raw Media Element
Reusable
Information Object ()

19. LO Matrix by McGreal

20. Basic characteristics
• Small, self-contained modules of learning that tackle a
single concept, information, procedure, or fact that can
be delivered independently
• It has “metadata” that allows it to be indexed and
searched
• It can be combined with other learning objects easily
and effectively, e.g. to form a course
• It can be transformed easily for delivery on different
media, including traditional classrooms, computer
based training, and forms of online or e-learning
• It facilitates reuse and ease of change

22. Working Definition
• Any self-contained resource that includes
instructions for its pedagogical use, and is
described with data that allow for its adoption
in different contexts, its reuse and repurposing
as well as its combination with other learning
objects to support educational activities

23. Metadata
Metadata
Which one is a learning object?

24. Questions you were afraid to ask
Answers you suspected to be true

25. Why use DLOs?
• Flexibility. A well-designed learning object can
offer access to knowledge through multiple
modes of learning
• Cost effectiveness. As non-consumable
resources, learning objects can be used in a
course from one semester to the next. Some
can be repurposed for different courses or
even different disciplines

26. Why use DLOs?
• Customizability. Professors may select
learning objects to suit their course material
and particular instructional style. With a bit of
online research, faculty can assemble an array
of ready-made support materials to offer to
their student

27. How to use DLOs?
• Learning objects can be included as course
materials
• A single learning object can be selected to
reinforce or provide practice for a topic
– Sometimes several conceptually related learning
objects are provided to explore a topic from
different angles or in greater depth

28. How to use DLOs?
• Students click the link to access the learning
object
– They work through the assignment using the learning
object
• Once students have started the learning object,
the scenarios diverge, as each object is unique.
– A written report or other record of the experience
may be requested
– Others include quizzes or other forms of assessment
– Some are assigned simply for practice and no physical
record is requested.

29. General Issues

30. “Baby bear” analogy
• We must get the learning objects in just the
right:
– Size
– Time
– Way (learning style)
– Context, relevance
– Medium of delivery (paper, DVD, on-line,
synchronous, on screen, etc.)
– Location (desk, car, house, palm, field, etc.)
Wayne Hodgins

31. Size: Granularity of Learning Objects
• Mixing & Matching them to form bigger
“chunks” of learning
Taken from McGreal,2007

32. Must!
• Each learning object should be based on one
learning objective or clear learning goal
• The content of one learning object should not
refer to and use material in another learning
object in such a way as to create necessary
dependencies
• The learning object has to be pedagogically
rich

33. Time: I want my LOs, now!
• Learning Objects have to be easily accessible
through interoperable and open systems
• “Librarians like to search, users like to find”
and use right here and now!

34. Way: Learning Styles (1/2)
• Reflective Observation: the learner reflects on what
happened during a particular experience and how
that experience relates to previous experiences. The
learner observes before making any judgments and
looks at different perspectives
• Active Experimentation: the learner tests new
insights, which results in concrete experience. This is
learning by doing

35. Way: Learning Styles (2/2)
• Abstract Conceptualization: the learner develops
deeper understanding of what happened during the
experience. The learner uses logic, concepts, and
ideas
• Concrete Experience: Learning starts with direct
experience. Relevance and real situations are
important here. Feeling, rather than thinking, is
stressed

36. Learner Profiles (Kolb)

37. Learner Profiles
• Assimilator: abstract conceptualization and reflective
observation (Reflector/Theoretical): Persons in this
category understand a wide range of information and
put it into concise logical form. Enjoy ideas and theory
as opposed to application. This learner asks “what?”
• Diverger: concrete experience and reflective
observation. (Processor/Reflector) : Very imaginative.
Can view specific situation from multiple standpoints.
Prefers to observe rather than experiment, as well as
minimal structure. This learner asks “Why?”

38. Learner Profiles
• Converger: abstract conceptualization/active
experimentation (Doer/Theoretical): take ideas and
transform them into concrete situations. Gravitates
toward technical tasks and issues rather than social
issues. Excel at problem solving and the application of
ideas. This learner asks “how”?
• Accommodator: active/concrete (Processor/Doer) Likes
trial and error and hands on. This learner asks “what if?”

39. Context: The “magpie” effect
• Don’t just collect millions of learning objects in
Federations of Repositories
• Support communities of interest around certain
subjects by providing, alongside the content,
mechanisms for adding comments on how best
to use some content, for documenting one’s own
project results, creating links to related content,
and discussing new issues in certain subject areas
(Geser et al)
• Is it metadata???

40. Medium: Standards & Interoperability
• Several agencies have been working on
standards for Learning Objects’
interoperability,
– Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE),
– IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS),
– Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC)
– Defense Department’s Advanced Distributed
Learning initiative (ADL)

41. Medium: Standards & Interoperability
• The Sharable Content Object Reference Model
(SCORM) draws from all these efforts, using IMS
specifications for content packaging and metadata,
launch communication APIs and the overall data
model from the AICC, and the metadata dictionary
from the IEEE

42. Mixing & Matching Learning Objects
• Portability
– Working across platforms
• Accessibility
– Located & delivered efficiently to the learner
• Durability
– Remaining usable as technology changes
• Interoperability
– Exchangeability between browsers and systems

43. Location: Portable
• Learning objects have to be able to be
delivered at any given location and any given
device that a user might be holding
• Home or office, desktop or smart phone, in
populated or remote areas

44. What about Rights?
• Learning Objects should, by nature, be reused,
transmitted over the internet, combined, etc.
• This brings up the issue of licensing them
• What is permitted over the content itself?
– Can I edit your lesson plan?
– Can I share it with other colleagues after that?

45. Who has the Rights?
• Rights of the learning objects in the lower
level of aggregation – single, smallest learning
object  Rights of its creator
• Rights of LOs at higher levels of aggregation –
combined, aggregated learning objects
 Rights of the aggregator?

46. Learning Object Economy
The $ factor!

47. Economy
• Success stories of the use of LOs have fueled
their commercialization
– MERLOT, CLOE, EOE
• Cisco, Microsoft, AT&T Business Learning
Services, have used a reusable object
approach to structure internal training and
customer certification programs

48. Learning Object Markets (1/3)
• Proprietary exchanges
– Created for the exclusive use of an individual
company or industry
• Commercial exchanges
– End users and aggregators purchase content
under specific licenses that allow them to use
the objects in clearly defined ways

49. Learning Object Markets (2/3)
• Free exchanges
– Come primarily from the academic world and have
proven very hard to sustain without ongoing
subsidies
• Shared exchanges
– Require their objects to meet certain criteria, such
as interoperability or SCORM compliance, and
builders of such exchanges often develop learning
objects themselves or purchase them under
contract to ensure their standards are met

50. Open Educational Resources
• “World’s knowledge is a public good and that
technology in general and the Worldwide Web
in particular provide an extraordinary
opportunity for everyone to share, use, and
re-use knowledge”
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

51. Learning Object Markets (3/3)
• Peer-to-peer exchanges
– Using networks such as Kazaa or other post-
Napster variations, especially if learning objects
begin to be seen as more valuable in their own
right and commercial exchanges begin to take off

53. Actors
• Drivers are seen as pressures spurring
development of the learning-object economy
• To the extent that Enablers were present, they
can facilitate the development of learning
objects and repositories
• Depending on how Mediators are present,
they could either hinder or facilitate the
development of learning objects and
repositories

55. Holistic Learning Object Approach
Instructional
Design of
Modules
Modular
Learning
Infrastructure
Templates,
Cookbooks,
and Guides

56. Concluding Thoughts
And a couple of interesting ideas

57. Learnativity
• What do you call that which you and every
other person are doing every day as you solve
problems, work, plan, innovate, create,
communicate, and learn?

58. Learnativity
• However, when they happen all at once and
all the time, fused together into one single
state of just being, what do we call it? For the
purpose of simplicity and consistency, let us
call it learnativity

59. “Learning” is just the start
• Learning: Learning is the means by which tacit
knowledge is exchanged between individuals and
between the learner and the learning resources.
– It’s social and personal, it occurs in both formal and
informal settings
• Managing: Management of information, learning,
and performance is the conversion of explicit
knowledge into complex and valuable
combinations of ideas, insights, and experiences
so they can be shared with others

60. “Learning” is just the start
• Capturing: Capturing knowledge means
converting it from a tacit state into an explicit,
comprehensible form so that others can
understand it
• Performing: Performing refers to the
application of knowledge. Performing is the
integration and application of knowledge in
the activities, products, and services

61. Autism of Learning Objects
• Profound and dangerous autism in the way we
describe knowledge management &
e-learning
– At its root is an obsessive fascination with the idea of
knowledge as content, as object, and as manipulable
artifact.
– It is accompanied by an almost psychotic blindness to
the human experiences of knowing, learning,
communicating, formulating, recognizing, adapting,
miscommunicating, forgetting, noticing, ignoring,
choosing, liking, disliking, remembering and
misremembering.
Patrick Lambe – “The autism of knowledge management

62. Working Definition
• Any self-contained resource that includes
instructions for its pedagogical use, and is
described with data that allow for its adoption
in different contexts, its reuse and repurposing
as well as its combination with other learning
objects to support educational activities

63. Learning Objects’ Ecosystem
• We cannot look LOs in a vacuum! Many
factors have to be taken under consideration
– Educational theories that govern their creation
– Criteria that assess their impact
– Technologies that support them
– Tools that allow their delivery

64. Learning Objects’ Ecosystem
Federation
Repositories
Users
Learning
Objects
Policies & Rights
LO Experts

65. Next stop
• We identified what is a digital learning object
and its ecosystem
• Through this first “discussion” the role of
descriptive information in relation to LOs
became evident
• Next stop: Examine the “learning” behind
learning objects

66. Ground Floor
Learning Objects
Next stop:
1st Floor – Learning Design
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