Learning Objects

Learning Objects = small bits of reusable digital content that can be used to support learning

See also MicroContent

Description

An excerpt from an article by Stephen Downes, quoting Hodgins:

"My journey into this world of learning objects started with an 'epiphany moment' watching my children play with LEGO blocks many years ago... I began what has been more than ten years of refining a dream of a world where all "content" exists at just the right and lowest possible size, much like the individual blocks that make up LEGO systems." (Hodgins, 2002)

This early vision has undergone numerous changes since its inception, though the concept has remained the same. Learning objects are small bits of reusable digital content that can be used to support learning. How they fit together became terribly important, and so there was much debate about the correct analogy to use. Learning objects were thus more like atoms, for example. Or there should be things like data objects and knowledge objects, which would instead be combined to form sharable courseware objects. Hodgins himself abandoned the Lego metaphor, recommending instead what he called a multi level content taxonomy. (Hodgins, 2002) (http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=20)

More Information

1. An informed critique of Learning Objects, that supports the principle, but deplores the proprietary way in which educational publishers have approached the concept, by Stephen Dowes [1] at http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=20
2. Bibliography at http://opencontent.org/docs/wiley-lo-review-final.pdf