Introduction
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What is a “learning object”?
The term “learning object” has, over the past three or four years, competed with a number of
alternative expressions: content object, re-usable learning object (RLO), re-usable information
object (RIO), knowledge object, and so on. More recently, there has been a general acceptance of
the term learning object but variations still abound.
Like the term itself, its definition is beginning to stabilize but variations are still common. A
learning object is generally thought to be an independent chunk of content that can be presented
alone or in various combinations with other learning objects to form a unit of instruction.
Simplified definition of a learning object- VISION software version
Vendors of software products that deal with learning objects are coming up with specific definitions
of their own, based on their product concepts and technical strategies. The VISION learning content
management system is predicated on a definition of its own.
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In the simplest terms, a learning object in VISION is a block of content
that contains:
- an instructional objective statement;
- all of the content needed to present the objective,
- associated test question(s),
- links to other objects,
- and a set of additional, user-defined properties.
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Illustrated learning object
This illustration represents a learning object as having several components: an objective statement,
the content and test questions. It also shows “links” to other objects as an additional property.
Not all definitions of a learning object specifically identify an objective as the central organizing
entity.
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Potential benefits of learning objects
The idea of the learning object is important because it is seen as a key to the way training will be
transformed in the information age. We’re all familiar with the changes that business and industry
is experiencing worldwide. Some of the changes that make headlines every day are:
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Shorter time to market with rapidly evolving products and services
- Globalization and decentralizing of physical assets
We accept these changes as part of the new business landscape. But they will have a profound impact
on the way the workforce is trained. Believe it or not, the use of learning objects could play an
important role in the transformation.
Let’s imagine a hypothetical corporation. It is undergoing all of the changes we hear about. It
just merged with several other companies in the same industry. The result is a bunch of entities on
several continents. In the past, they were in competition with each other. Now they are attempting
to do business as one. The goal of course, is to leverage the new common business structure to
become more efficient, competitive and profitable. How does the idea of learning objects help?
Sharing common content to eliminate redundancy
For one, this enterprise wants to consolidate assets and eliminate redundancy. It is easier to sort
content by pieces that are common and unique if they are organized in small packets that can be moved,
mixed and shared.
Sharing content across authors to expedite development
The firm is racing products to the market. Content developers are hard pressed to produce effective
training before it is time to change it. If content is stored in easily accessed, small packets, an
instructor can “grab” the pieces that will shorten her development time. If the content is stored
as large, word-processed files, the job of finding, cutting and pasting relevant materials would be
overwhelming.
Delivering web-based content
Then there is the Internet. Here is a perfect technology to take advantage of the learning object
approach. Let’s say the objects are stored in a database. A product change is introduced and field
technicians all over the world need an update. The objects that change are assembled into a unit of
instruction to form web-based update modules. Of an entire lesson or course, only the changed
objects need be delivered.
Performance support on-demand
With the right configuration management approach to the content objects, if one of the technicians
at a site wants to perform a task or procedure, the content that might appear buried within several
courses can be extracted by a filter and assembled on the spot. The technician gets what he needs
without having to search huge reference documents.
Better change management
What happens when the product does change? Oftentimes, the affected content is buried among lessons
stored everywhere. Learning objects introduce the possibility of connecting on one end the change
agents, and the other to the content itself. Test questions are connected to the learning object.
This will shorten the trail and the time it takes to track down affected areas and make the change
in both the content and the exam bank.
The object-oriented approach to content holds the potential of an information source that is at once
more agile, flexible and usable in a fast-paced dynamic environment.
Challenges in realizing the potential
Of course, nothing is quite as easy as it first appears. The benefits of the learning object-approach
will not be easy to harvest. There are formidable challenges to making them practical. Some of the
challenges in realizing their potential are:
- Stringing nuggets together to make a cohesive whole seems impractical. Content usually needs to
“flow” from subject to subject. Mixing content out of a natural sequence could result in blobs of
material that don’t make sense in isolation.
- For a learning object to be useful, it must stand on its own as an instructional unit. Content
for one subject often overlaps others and the instructional merit is not always achieved until
mid-way through the material. At minimum, the idea of self-contained nuggets represents a paradigm
shift for authors of instructional materials.
- When a string of objects comes up, perhaps from a random or key word search, how will we handle
prerequisites? Even if an object is self-contained, it may not be effective if a prerequisite
concept is not presented first.
- If learning objects represent a more granular approach, we could be creating a content management
nightmare by multiplying tenfold the number of “widgets” we have to produce, track and control.
- The idea of sharing and re-using objects is compelling. But if a developer needs to update a
widely shared object, how can he be sure the change will not cause the content to be inappropriate
for some of the instances where the object appears?
These are only some of the serious challenges that must be overcome if the learning object approach
is going to work. Clearly, simply breaking our content into smaller pieces is unlikely to help us
realize the potential of the object-oriented approach. We need a much better plan than that.
A three-part solution
Organizations seeking to maximize the benefits of learning objects should concentrate broadly on a
“system solution.” In doing so, there are three fundamental components of the solution.
- Instructional design- how learning objects are designed and developed in the first place.
- Content management- how large numbers of learning objects are organized, shared, tracked,
and maintained.
- Information retrieval- how a set of learning objects can be found in various contexts, connected
together appropriately, rendered as useful instructional product, and distributed on-demand to the
point of need.
All three components are inter-twined. For example, in order to develop useful specifications to
guide authoring teams in how a learning object should be designed, we must consider the content
management problem. We know it would be counter-productive to allow the proliferation of objects
that are too complex or too many to manage. On the other, any content management system, in order
to be practical, will provide features that should be considered at the instructional design stage.
So we need to consider both at once.
Likewise, we can’t evaluate a content management system without clarifying our information retrieval
goals. What kind of outputs do we expect from our learning content system in order to justify its
existence? The answer might point to the need for features in the content management system. Or,
it might indicate the requirement to add properties to our learning object design specifications.
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When we discuss learning objects then, we must consider learning object
design, object management, and information retrieval together.
Learn more about Learning Object Design. |
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