Principled Construction and Reuse of Learning Designs

This chapter summarizes the work on instructional engineering and educational modeling accomplished since 1992 at the LICEF Research Center of Télé-université by the researchers of the CICE Research Chair. Recent results on learning design modeling and learning objects reusability processes are thoroughly presented using examples drawn from many projects conducted in the last 3 years. These are discussed to uncover the importance of a principled approach for the modeling of learning design and the of learning objects in technology enhanced learning environments. Finally, delivery and dissemination issues are discussed and a summary of on-going and future directions for research is presented.

Standards for Learning Objects and Learning Designs

E-learning standards are a contentious topic amongst educators, designers, and researchers engaged in the development of learning objects and learning designs. There is disagreement regarding the relative benefits and limitations of standards, while the relevance of standards to some education and training contexts has been questioned. It may be difficult for designers and educators to be sure that they need to implement standards, let alone to choose the most appropriate one from the plethora available. This chapter aims to provide individuals involved in the design and development of learning objects and learning designs with a wide-ranging critical overview of e-learning standards. It first traces the evolution of standards, and then examines their application in the present day. Finally, the chapter considers some of the limitations and criticisms of current standards, and suggests some possible directions for future development.

For the Ultimate Accessibility and Reusability

This chapter first argues that current approaches for sharing and retrieving learning objects or any other kinds of information are not efficient or scalable, essentially because almost all of these approaches are based on the manual or automatic indexation or merge of independently created formal or informal resources. It then shows that tightly interconnected collaboratively updated formal or semiformal large knowledge bases (semantic networks) can, should, and probably will, be used as a shared medium for the tasks of researching, publishing, teaching, learning, evaluating, or collaborating, and thus ease or complement traditional methods such as face-to-face teaching and document publishing. To test and support these claims, the authors have implemented their ideas into a knowledge server named WebKB- 2 and begun representing their research domain and several courses at their universities. The same underlying techniques could be applied to a semantic/learning grid or peer-to-peer network.

A European Evaluation of the Promises of LOs

Most studies on reusable digital learning materials, Learning Objects (LOs), relate to their use in universities. Few empirical studies exist to explore the impact of LOs on pedagogy, especially in schools. This chapter provides evidence from an evaluation of the use of LOs in schools. The evidence is from an EU-funded project Context E-Learning with Broadband Technologies, involving 500 schools in six countries across Europe, to examine the impact of LOs on pedagogy. It brought together producers and users to try out technically and pedagogically sound ways of producing, making available through a portal, and using LOs. This chapter reports data from both quantitative and qualitative studies conducted during 2004, including: online surveys (of all the teachers involved), routine data from the portal, semistructured interviews in 40 schools in all six countries, experimental studies in one of these countries, and 13 classroom case studies in four of the countries.

Learning Objects, Learning Tasks, and Handhelds

The main idea behind learning objects is that they are to exist as digital resources separated from the learning task in which they are used. This allows a learning object to be reused with different learning tasks. However, not all learning objects operate in similar ways, neither are all learning tasks the same, and this exposes the problem that current recommendations from literature fail to link learning objects and their reuse in varied learning tasks. In this chapter, we explore definitions of learning objects and learning tasks. We also suggest that appropriate matches would lead to more effective pedagogical applications that can be used as set of recommendations for designers of learning objects and teachers who plan learning tasks and select learning objects for student learning activities. In addition, we discuss applications of learning objects delivered by emerging technologies which may change how digital resources are accessed and used by students in and out of classrooms.

Using Expert Reviews to Enhance Learning Designs

The chapter will describe an expert review process used at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The mechanism used involves a carefully developed evaluation matrix which is used with individual teachers. This matrix records: (1) the Web functions and their use as e-learning strategies in the course Web site; (2) how completely these functions are utilized; and (3) the learning design implied by the way the functions selected are used by the course documentation and gauged from conversations with the teacher. A study of 20 course Web sites in the academic years 2005–06 and 2006–07 shows that the mechanism is practical, beneficial to individual teachers, and provides data of relevance to institutional planning for e-learning.

Using Design Patterns to Support E-Learning Design

Design patterns have received considerable attention for their potential as a means of capturing and sharing design knowledge. This chapter provides a review of design pattern research and usage within education and other disciplines, summarizes the reported benefits of the approach, and examines design patterns in relation to other approaches to supporting design. Building upon this work, it argues that design patterns can capture learning design knowledge from theories and best practices to support novices in effective e-learning design. This chapter describes the authors’ work on the development of designs patterns for e-learning. It concludes with a discussion of future research for educational uses of design patterns.

Effective Use of Learning Objects in Class Environments

This chapter provides a model to analyse the effectiveness and efficiency of Learning Objects being used in primary and secondary schools by considering their place within that educational environment, paying particular attention to the manner in which they, like any resource, can aid or occlude productive interactions between teachers and students. It draws from a study of Australian and New Zealand schools that piloted the first release of Learning Objects from the Le@rning Federation. The chapter considers the place of Learning Objects within the overall systemic school environment, and in this environment, examines the individual classroom as the combination of tensions between the teacher’s needs, the students’ needs, and the potential available within the existing infrastructure. Within this framework, the chapter discusses the ways in which these three components interact during teacher selection of Learning Objects, students’ accession of Learning Objects in the classroom, and the use of the Learning Objects by students. It concludes by suggesting how students’ construction of knowledge can be enhanced through merging the capabilities of the resource with the needs of students and teachers.

Supporting Decision Making in Using Design Languages for Learning Designs and Learning Objects

In developing modern instructional software, learning designs are used to formalize descriptions of roles, activities, constraints, and several other instructional design aspects and learning objects are used to implement those learning designs in instructional software. Central in both constructs is the use of design languages to support structuring a design task and conceiving solutions. Due to a lack of standardized design languages that are shared between designers, producers, and other stakeholders, the application of learning designs and learning objects is often unsatisfactory for three reasons: (a) different instructional and technical structures are often not meaningfully organized; (b) different levels of detail are mixed together; and (c) different expressions are used in a nonstandardized manner. A decision model is introduced—the 3D-model—that supports better selection and application of design languages. Two studies show that the 3D-model contributes to a better information transition between instructional designers and software producers.

Reconceptualisation of Learning Objects as Meta-Schemas

The shift in the way we visualise the nature of mathematics and mathematics learning has presented educational technologists with new challenges in the design of rich and powerful learning environments. Against this background, the design and use of learning objects in supporting meaningful mathematical learning assumes increased significance. I argue that learning objects need to be sufficiently pliable such that both teachers and learners could engage in knowledge construction that provides further avenues for growth and sophistication of mathematical schemas. In this chapter, the author aims to show the limitations of current views about mathematical learning objects and the need to reconceptualise these in terms of generic meta-schemas. A meta-schematic framework would provide the mathematics community with powerful pedagogical tools to support and assess mathematics learning. Two examples of these meta-schemas for geometry are described.