Moen Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity1 Reusing & Repurposing Learning Objects ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Issues of Granularity in the Texas Course Redesign Repository William E. Moen Texas Center for Digital Knowledge University of North Texas Denton, Texas Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Moen Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity2 Texas course redesign project Statewide initiative, funded by Texas legislature Original RFP requested proposals: –To redesign developmental and entry-level academic courses –To develop other related projects that would advance the statewide course redesign initiative

Moen Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity3 Texas courses being redesigned 23 redesign projects in development including: –Developmental writing, reading, and mathematics –Biology I & II, Chemistry I & II –College Algebra, Calculus, Math for Business & Social Science Majors, Statistics –Computer Literacy –English Composition I & II –Fine Arts Appreciation –Introduction to Engineering –Spanish –U.S. Government –U.S. History I & II

Moen Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity4 Redesigning first year curriculum Core Curriculum Component AreaRedesigned Courses CommunicationEnglish Composition, Spanish MathematicsAlgebra, Calculus, Statistics Natural ScienceBiology I & II, Chemistry I & II Humanities/Visual & Performing ArtsFine Arts Appreciation Social/Behavioral ScienceU.S. History I & II, Government I Institutionally Designated OptionComputer Literacy

Moen Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity5 The learning object repository Two phase project –Phase I: Proof-of-Concept (May 07–Sept 07) How course content can be decomposed into discrete learning objects (LOs) How LOs can be individually described through metadata How users can use the LOR to search, browse, retrieve, and download LOs How LOs can be packaged to import into learning management systems –Phase II: Research & Development (Sept 07–Aug 09) Moving towards a near-production level system Primary means to disseminate redesigned courses For more information, see project website:

Moen THECB LOR components Repository platform: DSpace –Stores the LOs and metadata describing each –Provides authenticated user interface for submission of LOs and creation of metadata –Provides public user interface for searching, browsing, access –Manakin XML user interface tool Course content and learning objects –Our definition of a LO: A digital resource (simple or complex) that can be used to support learning Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity6

Moen THECB LOR components Metadata –Serves in managing the repository’s content –Serves users to: Find (searching and discovering LOs) Identify (comparing similar LOs) Select (evaluating LOs for specific needs) Access/Acquire (downloading selected LOs) –Using metadata elements from two standards: Dublin Core IEEE Learning Object Metadata Approximately 40 elements Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity7

Moen Context for THECB LOR Courses and course content –Developed by separate projects –No standard or common logical structure Quality of content –Competitive grant process for redesigned courses Intended audience –Instructors/instructional designers at public institutions of higher education in Texas Intellectual property –Belongs to Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity8

Moen Basic organization of LOR Discipline (e.g. History) –Sub-discipline (e.g., U.S History) Courses (e.g., U.S. History I, U.S. History II) –Course content (Collections of learning objects at varying levels of granularity) Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity9

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Moen From courses to LOs Courses not designed in terms of: –Learning objects –Storage in a repository Challenges: –How to decompose complete course into meaningful LOs –How to decide on levels of granularity –How to represent such levels –How to show relationships among/between related LOs at different levels of granularity Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity11

Moen U.S. History I Course Structure as designed: –Course Units (four Units in Course) –Lessons (two or more lessons per Unit) »Topics (two or more topics per Lesson) Structure served to guide levels of granularity Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity12

Moen U.S. History I Course Other course components as designed –Case studies –Teacher and student guides –Assessments (primarily at the Lesson level) Free-standing learning objects –Derived from course content –Have value outside the context for which they were created –Interactive flash animations, video clips, etc. Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity13

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Moen Characterizing LOs Netg –Topic: single learning objective, a learning activity, and an assessment Cisco –Reusable Information Object: content items, practice items, and assessment items aimed at single learning objective SCORM Content Package –Sharable Content Objects packaged together in larger units of learning related to learning objectives IMS Learning Design –Learning Object: object needed to perform an activity Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity15

Moen Assumptions for the THECB LOR Users may be in need of different sized LOs No common logical structure for courses No common terminology across courses for labeling structural components of course Different courses may dictate different levels of granularity Context for some LOs more important than others Our definition of a LO: –A digital resource (simple or complex) that can be used to support learning –Not tied to specific learning objectives Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity16

Moen Spanish course Course content consists of: –Introductory web page –Podcast Organized by topics, subtopics, specific topics e.g. –Verbs Present tense –Present tense AR –Present tense ER/IR –Present tense Irregulars –Nouns, articles, adjectives and agreement Articles –Definite and indefinite articles Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity17

Moen Developmental writing course Course content consists of: –Web pages of textual information –Assessments and activities Organized into: –Categories Lessons –Topics Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity18

Moen Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity19 LOs at multiple levels of granularity The Russian Doll Approach Separate learning objects are created at all levels: course, lesson, topic, page, page element (media), with each level contained in the one above it. G.W. Matkin

Moen Russian Doll in context of courses History Topic LOs –Topics aggregated in a lesson Lesson LOs –Lessons aggregated in a unit Unit LOs –Units aggregated into course level Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity20 Writing Topic LOs –Topics aggregated in a lesson Lesson LOs –Lessons aggregated in a category Category LOs –Categories aggregated into course level Spanish Specific topic LOs –Specific topics aggregated in a subtopic Subtopic LOs –Subtopics aggregated in a topics Topic LOs –Topics aggregated into course level

Moen This approach… Addresses our lack of knowledge of granularity levels appropriate for intended users Offers LOs at multiple levels of granularity Provides a testbed for empirical investigation BUT … lots of challenges, including: Terminology for levels of granularity Use of metadata to describe/represent levels of granularity Use of metadata to show relationships (part of, is part of) Addressing sequencing and context where that is important I’ll appreciate your ideas and suggestions! Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity21

Moen References Disaggregation and reutilization of sharable content objects. Figuerua, A. & Kaufmann, M. Learning object repositories: Problems and promise. Matkin, G.W. Transforming existing content into reusable learning objects. Doorten, M., et al. THECB LOR Project: Reusing and Repurposing Learning Objects: Issues of Granularity22