What is a Learning Object?
The Web is rich with resources that support teaching and learning and you can use them all!
Some online items referred to as learning objects are classified as raw objects, digital assets or media elements. These items can be photographs, photomicrographs, slides, illustrations, audio or video clips, quotations or other text, charts, tables, graphs, etc. They are small, granular items that do not have a defined learning objective and can acquire meaning or be repurposed through context or aggregation. They may or may not be found in an online repository.
Other online items referred to as learning objects are fully-developed learning resources that may have more than one learning objective, such as a web site, an entire PowerPoint presentation, an online course or a videotaped lecture. Some repositories include these learning resources.
In general learning objects are:
- self-contained units of digital content
- reusable and repurposeable across courses, educational levels and disciplines
- able to be grouped with other learning objects to form an
- aggregate of instructional content
- interoperable on different learning systems
For other definitions and descriptions of learning objects, we invite you to visit:
http://adlcolab.uwsa.edu/lo/what.htm
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CIE/AOP/LO_what.html
The Language of Learning Objects
Synonyms: Learning objects, or LOs, may also be called Reusable Learning Objects or Repurposeable Learning Objects (both known as RLOs). Sharable Content Objects, or SCOs, are learning objects that adhere to the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) standards.
Some common terms:
- Aggregate, Aggregation: cluster, gather together to make a whole, as in gathering a number of learning objects together to create a whole lesson or course
- Granular, Granularity: refers to the degree of “fineness” of the content. Smaller “grains” of content have less information, but also less context, making them usble in more types of situations
- Interactive: includes learning, practicing, tracking and/or assessment components that learner can access and interact with
- Interoperable: works equally well with different learning management systems
- Learning Management System: online course platforms such as Desire2Learn, Blackboard, WebCT, etc.
- Metadata: “data about data”; descriptive information, similar to that found in a library cataloging system, that allows the object to be retrieved in a repository searh
- Repository: a system that stores electronic objects and metadata about those objects, and provides ready access to potential users; like a library of learning objects
- Repurposeable: purpose changes with different target audiences, can be easily used in different contexts and settings
- Reusable: can be used multiple times across multiple settings
For a more comprehensive glossary of terms related to learning objects, please visit:
http://www.reusablelearning.org/glossary-print.asp