Other information

What is a learning Object?

While there is no agreement over the definition of a learning object, the main elements of such a definition would need to reference reusability, pedagogical purpose, modularity, and metadata. At the code and the pedagogical level, most learning objects are complex, built from smaller learning objects. Here we call the elementary learning objects “heuremes.” And the study of learning objects: “heuremics.” We build heuremes at the Foundry and assemble these into reusable learning objects. All of our learning objects are focused on data discovery.

Reusability

Learning objects are synthetic, built from reusable bits of code (code objects), user interface graphics and code (GUI objects), dollops of content (content objects), and built-in assessement tools (assessment objects). Learning objects are commonly built from smaller learning objects (heuremes).

Pedagogical Purpose

Learning objects serve a pedagogical purpose that is defined by content and level. The task here is to combine content with user interactivity to create a learning scaffold.

Modularity

Along with reusability, which looks at the ability to tear-down a learning object and rebuild this to create a different one, modularity points to the ability of combining learning objects. This means that learning objects need to communicate with each other and with learning systems.

Metadata

The metadata requirements that create the standard communication between learning objects are being created by the IEEE’s Learning Object Metadata (LOM) Working Group in the Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC). The proposed metadata maps partially into/from Dublin Core, with additional specifications useful to automate how learning systems communicate with learning objects. The Foundry will be working with the NSDL metadata committee to see how best to integrate Foundry tools into the NSDL, and to interdigitate NSDL metadata with LOM standards.

Learning Systems

The creation of standard learning system technologies is yet another level of potential standardization or market complexity. The problem here is that the learning system needs to combine a learning management tool (which keeps track of the students and their abilities and levels) with a content delivery tool that delivers the right learning objects (sometimes called “shared content objects” [SCO]). With commercial learning managment tools becoming more complex in order to add value (and find a market), standardization may be elusive. One current, ad hoc standard comes out of the US government sponsored Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. This initiative uses what it calls a Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) to provide a specification for both learning objects and learning management systems. The objective is to facilitate interoperability for learning content sharing. Interoperability requires metadata compliance for learning objects, and acceptance of a standard API for building communications between learning objects and the learning system.

Assessment

The Foundry will be creating automated assessment tools that will allow for functional and formative evalutations directly through the learning objects. This means that Foundry tools and applications will enable tool authors and content providers to create evaluations that can be performed directly from the user application.

Metrics

The use of government data resources is generally free, however, this service needs to collect information from its users in order for the government agencies (such as NASA and NOAA) to create metrics that support continued funding. The Foundry is working to create an automated metrics collection feature that will help keep these data resources free.