What is a learning object?

A learning object can be defined as "any entity, digital or non-digital, that may be used for learning, education or training" Learning Technology Standards Committee (2002) (PDF), Draft Standard for Learning Object Metadata. IEEE Standard 1484.12.1, New York: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Learning object is "any digital resource that can be reused to support learning". Wiley, David A. (2000), "Connecting Learning Objects to Instructional Design Theory: A Definition, A Metaphor, and A Taxonomy", in Wiley, David A. (DOC), The Instructional Use of Learning Objects: Online Version.

A learning objecti is "A digital self-contained and reusable entity, with a clear educational purpose, with at least three internal and editable components: content, learning activities and elements of context. The learning objects must have an external structure of information to facilitate their identification, storage and retrieval: the metadata. " (Chiappe, Segovia, & Rincon, 2007). Chiappe, Andres.; Segovia, Yasbley; Rincon, Yadira (2007), Educational Technology Research and Development, Boston: Springer, pp. 671-681, e(http://andreschiappe.blogspot.com/2007/09/que-es-un-objeto-de-aprendizaje-what-is.html).

What is a learning object like?

Learning objects have the following key characteristics: Learning objects are a new way of thinking about learning content. Traditionally, content comes in a several hour chunk. Learning objects are much smaller units of learning, typically ranging from 2 minutes to 15 minutes. Are self-contained – each learning object can be taken independently Are reusable – a single learning object may be used in multiple contexts for multiple purposes Can be aggregated – learning objects can be grouped into larger collections of content, including traditional course structures Are tagged with metadata – every learning object has descriptive information allowing it to be easily found by a search Rehak, Daniel R.; Mason, Robin (2003), "Engaging with the Learning Object Economy", in Littlejohn, Allison, Reusing Online Resources: A Sustainable Approach to E-Learning, London: Kogan Page, pp. 22-30,.

Examples of learning objects

• Australian learning federation AGORA, a publicly accessible online learning environment at the Virtual Museum Canada http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/ MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching), a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm;jsessionid=8296fb4b30d6cfb92a9b574e49dea57cf0f15a1c03ba.e34Oa30TaN4Ke34Qc34Lb3eKchj0

Preparing teachers to use learning objects

Bratina, T., Hayes, D. and Blumsack, S. ( ) Preparing Teachers To Use Learning Objects. http://technologysource.org/article/preparing_teachers_to_use_learning_objects/

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