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The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
• Susan Metros ([email protected])Deputy CIO & Professor The Ohio State University
• Kathleen Bennett ([email protected])Web Instructional Technologist University of Tennessee
• Veronica Diaz ([email protected])Research Associate
Virtual Adaptive Learning Architecture University of Arizona
Featured Session
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Why learning objects?
• Learning Objects chosen as an NLII Key Theme
http://www.educause.edu/nlii/keythemes/
Select “Learning Objects”
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
What are learning objects?
A learning object can be as small as a grain of sand
or as large as an ocean!
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
What are learning objects?
“Any digital resource that can be used to support learning”
(Wiley, 2000)
– Reusable – Stand-alone and media
independent– Tagged and referenced – Assigned ownership and a price – Peer evaluated
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
What are learning objects?
• LEGOs
• Atoms
• Grapes• Snacking
• Metaphors
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
What are learning objects?
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
What are learning objects?
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
The vision
“We are on the verge of being able to provide learning customized for each specific learner at a specific time, taking into account, their learning styles, experience, knowledge and learning goals.”
(Schatz, 2000)
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Examples of learning object projects and repositories
• MERLOT
http://merlot.org
• Wisconsin Online http://www.wisc-online.com
• Interactive University, Berkeley http://interactiveu.berkeley.edu:8000/IU/
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Our mission
“We believe that every citizen should be able to access the education and training that they need, at any time in their lives, and when and where they need it.”
Dr. Tony Bates
Open Learning Agency
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Key issues
• Pedagogical– Quality Assurance– Example: Wisconsin Online– Example: MERLOT
• Technical– Meta-tagging– Intelligent searching
• Culture of the university– Course development models: what comes after the
“lone ranger”?– Faculty development models: change management
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Initiatives and trends
• Initiatives– Dublin Core– IMS– OKI– CanCore
• Trends and visions– Redefining faculty roles– Developing the “commons of mind”– Consortia
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Uses in instruction
• Instructor as researcher
• Resource model
• Course design by learning preferences
• Course/content adaptation
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Impact on improving teaching and learning
• Retraining via technology
• Innovation and creativity in the classroom
• Building campus community
• Information distribution
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
Conditions for successful implementation
• Organizational mission(s) & institutional duality
• Implementation into traditional educational models
• Incentive structures and individual benefits
• Support resources
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects
What are the right questions for institutions to ask?1. Who will populate and maintain the
repositories?2. Who will tag the content? 3. How will learning objects align with
learning management systems?4. How will faculty and students react to a
pedagogical shift towards LOs?5. How can faculty development staff model
change to create and support the use of LOs?
6. How will institutions incite faculty, support development, protect intellectual property, and fund this activity?
The Promise and Pitfallsof Learning Objects: Current Status of Digital Resource Collections
• Eduprise: A Collegis Eduprise Company – David McArthur, Senior Consultant
• The Ohio State University – Susan Metros, Deputy CIO & Professor
• University of Arizona– Veronica Diaz, Research Associate– Amy Metcalfe, Research Associate– Beth Harrison, Faculty, East Asian Studies
• University of Tennessee – Kathleen Bennett, Web Instructional Technologist
Companion Concurrent Session Following this presentation
11:40 a.m.to 12:30 p.m.
Grand Ballroom B&C
