Three Secrets about Learning Objects Rachel S. Smith Director, Development & Programs NMC: The New Media Consortium September 15, 2004

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Questions and Secrets What is a learning object? What isn’t? Secret the First What makes a good learning object? What if I can’t find one? Secret the Second Why on earth bother? Secret the Third The Startling Conclusion

Working Definition A learning object is: a grouping of materials structured in a meaningful way tied to an educational objective A digital learning object is also: deliverable or accessible via computer

Is this a learning object?

Now is it a learning object? AFRICA

Have we made a learning object yet? What if we label all the countries? Does that make it a learning object? AFRICA Gabon

How about now? (from

What’s Missing? A learning object is tied to an educational objective.

When Is It a Learning Object? For your unit on African history, you gather links to resources about African countries and cultures. You distribute a list of required readings and resources, including a link to the interactive map. You ask the students to practice a few times between classes to become familiar with country names and locations. As part of your unit assessment, you ask students to label a map of Africa from memory. This is reviewed and included in the students’ unit portfolios.

Using a Learning Object A successful student experience generally will consist of some resource, either created or found, and the following provided by you: a goal, i.e. what should be learned; directions some means of assessing what was learned feedback on the assessment results Does this sound familiar?

Secret #1 Selecting or creating learning objects is a lot like selecting or developing curriculum. You’ve got to have an educational point. You’ve got to make sure everything in the learning object (curriculum) supports your educational point. You already know the answers (or at least the questions!). Your biggest problem is how to help the students discover them.

The Take-Away from Secret #1 You already know how to do more than half of what you need to know to choose or make good learning objects.

Selecting Topics What makes a good subject for a learning object? What is hard for your students to learn now? What concepts can you envision clearly that are not well illustrated by your current materials? What is the most fascinating aspect of your subject?

Looking for Learning Objects © Cartoonbank.com Used with permission. Reproduction prohibited.

Looking for Learning Objects You have an educational goal in mind, and you have an idea of what kind of activity you might want. Where do you find learning objects? MERLOT ( NMC Listing of Repositories ( UBC Find Learning Objects (

Can’t Find Anything You Like? You can create your own! Learning objects can be as simple as a PDF of a course resource coupled with context added by you. For more complex objects, authoring tools exist and more are being developed. It’s getting easier and easier to author. You may be able to find grad students, interns, volunteers, or IT support staff who can help you.

Developing Learning Objects “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tools to Help Conquer Fear At Guidelines for Authors of Learning Objects booklet (free PDF) Workbook and development planner Links to sites about copyright, usability, reusability, accessibility…

Secret #2 Making learning objects is a lot like software development. Lots of people do it every day. It benefits from having a defined process. The bigger the project, the longer it will take. Sometimes, it just takes a team. Don’t have a team? Make a smaller project. If the users don’t like it, they won’t use it.

The Take-Away from Secret #2 Applying procedures from software development can help you with the part you may not already know how to do.

Reaching the Audience In industry, the consumers are the folks who make or break a product. The same is true in education. Advertisers conduct research to find out what young people are interested in. It turns out, young people will actually watch good ads… … However, they don’t want the message rammed down their throats. These are current and upcoming college students (“millennials”).

What Are They Doing Online? Well, goofing off. But how? Following animated series ( Playing single- or multiplayer games ( Reading blogs ( Creating all of the above for themselves and their friends

How Is This Helpful? What can we learn from Puzzled Sheep?Puzzled Sheep “Miniclip games are incredibly popular because they are fun, free and easy to use. They are small enough to be sent via , and easily viewed both online and offline on desktops.” - about miniclip.com

What It’s Like for the Rest of Us © Cartoonbank.com Used with permission. Reproduction prohibited.

Secret #3 It’s not like that for them: learning objects get through to students. My four-year-old has no fear when it comes to computers. High school and college kids are blogging (which is a lot like journaling). Young people create online games, comics, animations, and puzzles in their spare time. They find out how to do it from each other & from the web. They go online to do real-life research.

The Take-Away from Secret #3 It’s worthwhile to use and make learning objects because it’s worth it to the students. Students learn from this because they like it. It’s a language they understand.

The Startling Conclusion Learning online is just learning. Only the tools are different.