“Merlot community is negligible compared to overall education community”

1. “Merlot community is negligible compared to overall education community” Erik Duval, ARIANDE Merlot conference 2004

2. Use of Learning Objects • Easy to find • Easy to use in my context • Easy to create

3. University and College Context: Cultural Factors That Affect the Use of Learning Object Technologies

4. Instructors, for all practical purposes, “own” the courses they teach • Instructors define the instructional objectives, control the content that is presented, and determine how learning is assessed. • Instructors need to make changes in course content quickly and with minimum effort. • New instructors, teaching courses already established, will typically change course aspects to suit their personal standards and expertise. • No matter how effective, lessons or presentations (learning objects) obtained from a publisher or other outside source, the instructor will want to customize this content.

5. New Considerations .. • Most instructors are not interested in meta-tagging learning objects unless it is very easy • Most instructors will not develop learning objects unless authoring and revision can be done without learning complex new methodologies • Instructors will want to control, and create, their own learning objects without going through an intermediary • Instructors would welcome a way to manage the knowledge aggregation required for research with that portion required for teaching

6. Most educators have heard about learning objects, and understand the reusability concept, but are still confused about what a learning object is.

7. Learning Object Definition Confusion • Contains a learning objective(s), a unit of instruction and test materials • Re-usable digital lesson • Could be anything related to teaching: the title of a diagram, a book, a photograph, XML wrapped text, …..

8. Types of ? Learning Objects ? ? ? ? ? Vehicles Car Truck Van Bus Bike

9. There is no single accepted definition …We are beginning to see some progress a wider conceptualization of a learning object, two examples

10. David Wiley’s LO Taxonomy http://www.reusability.org/read/

11. C o n t e n t E c o s y s t e m eLearning Knowledge Management Learning Environment Learning Component* Learning Object Information Object Content Asset concept Communities text A u d i o Components principle Objective Practice Assess Web Services animation procedure Databases illustration Communications *A case study, a course, a program of study, performance tools, a curriculum, a competency, and so on _ + C o n t e x t _ + R e u s a b i I I t y A Content Model for Designing Learning Objects 2002, Learnativity Ellen Wagner and others

12. C o n t e n t E c o s y s t e m eLearning Knowledge Management Learning Environment Learning Component* Learning Object Information Object Content Asset concept Communities text A u d i o Components principle Objective Practice Assess Web Services animation procedure Databases illustration Communications *A case study, a course, a program of study, performance tools, a curriculum, a competency, and so on _ + C o n t e x t _ + R e u s a b i I I t y A Content Model for Designing Learning Objects 2002, Learnativity Ellen Wagner and others

13. Introducing Topic Reference Module

14. Topic Reference Module • A resource that can be used again and again • HTML based and easily updated • Independent of any particular course or program • Adaptable to any course or program • Contains both learner and instructor resources • Web executive summary approach BUT

15. Web Executive Summary Approach • Comprehensive, but short, overview of topic issues • Target reading time: 30-60 minutes local files • Use tables, numbered and bulleted lists • Provide instructor and learner resources • Provide links for further reading and research

16. Why Web Executive Summary Approach? • Designed so that the reader can quickly process the essential information; both students and instructors do not want to waste time finding the main ideas and concepts. • Instructors can write quick summaries, to maintain the gateway to a knowledge base, rather than a long-winded written discourse. • An executive summary is easier to keep up-to-date and revise. • Glossary and definition items are imbedded as hypertext links. • Links are provided to full-text articles or PDF files for printing and extended study.

17. People Typically Scan, Rather Than Read Web Pages* • highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others) • meaningful sub-headings • bulleted or numbered lists • one idea per paragraph • the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion and then down to sub-sections and further details • no scrolling on the introduction page, three screens maximum on others • half the word count (or less) than conventional writing Guidelines: * John Morkes and Jakob Nielson (1977)

18. TRM Organization

22. TRM Organization

31. Instructor Resources

32. Library

33. Defining Features of a TRM • an executive summary of a small topic in HTML form (read summary in 60 minutes or less) • the inclusion of instructor and student resources in the module • the separation of the learning path from the module content

34. What is a Learning Path? • Instructional objectives • Clear sequence and timeline of activities • Required readings • Required discussions or collaboration • Assignments and assessments if any

35. Why a Separate Learning Path(s)? • This allows for constant updating of the module contents regardless of actual instructional programs. • The TRM becomes more re-usable for differing instructional situations. • Instructors can define learning paths “on the fly” when and where necessary. • Instructors can maintain a topic reference independent of teaching but still use it for teaching.

36. Topic Reference Module TRM Learning Path Topic 1 Research Links 1,2,3,4,5,6 Discussion Q1,2,3, 4 Course A Topic 2 Research Links 1,2,3,4,5,6 Discussion Q1,2,3, 4 Course B Topic 3 Research Links 1,2,3,4,5,6 Discussion Q1,2,3, 4

37. Learning Path Can Include Classroom Activities

39. eLearning:Topic Reference Module Repository

40. Next Steps in TRM Development • Dedicated authoring tool • Find partners • Push into broader university context • Explore and develop management strategy for learning paths and community use

41. Thank you John Moore jnmoore@sfu.ca Simon Fraser University