School Libraries and Learning Objects: PORTABLE and REUSABLE Rob Darrow LMT on Special Assignment, Clovis Unified CSLA Conference. November 2003 Resources online at:

Clovis Unified School District. November What do people create for the Web? WS – Ways to reuse stuff we put on the Web? What is the “stuff” people put on the Web? What is the “stuff” library media teachers put on the Web? Lego Activity Each person fits their lego piece together on the front table

Clovis Unified School District. November Definition of Learning Objects “ any entity, digital or non-digital, which can be used, re-used or referenced during technology supported learning.” David Wiley, Utah State University ( )

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Objects Reusable Portable Shareable Adaptable

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Objects are like… Puzzle Pieces And other examples???

Clovis Unified School District. November Current Learning Objects (The stuff we currently put on the Web) Pictures Web sites WebQuests Text Etc. All in the way we think is best… No standardization…

Clovis Unified School District. November In Silos Web sites Library of Congress Mrs. Smith’s First Grade Units Video Clips

Clovis Unified School District. November How We Currently Use Learning Objects To create a lesson or unit... We search for learning objects and arrange them into classes and courses We edit or revise their content We package the result and place on a Web site in PowerPoint or put on a disk or print out for others

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Object Thinking The model: learning objects are bits of instruction or instructional objects strung together to form a course

Clovis Unified School District. November An example to think about How might this picture be used for instruction?

Clovis Unified School District. November How would you catalog this? What subject? Category? Source: California Digital Library -

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Emerges over Time The use of learning objects consists not in stringing them together, like a narrative, but in arranging them, like (a painting, an orchestra, a sand castle, … )

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Object Repositories Create a learning object and place into a database Tag these objects using a standard. Content of tags – title, grade, classification, interactivity, subject, etc. – are used as parameters in a search. Tags are the “meta data” of a digital object

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Object Metadata Metadata is the content of a learning object, like the label on a can. Learning Object metadata doesn’t describe an object, it describes a use of an object That is why we need multiple metadata schemes, because we have multiple uses Metadata Definition from the Library of Congress:

Clovis Unified School District. November Example: Classification Classification is a classic example. What is the topic of a learning object? That depends on which classification scheme you use…

Clovis Unified School District. November Example: Classification How would you classify this picture? Possibilities: Hands? Lines? A runner? Start position? P.E.? Health?

Clovis Unified School District. November Who Uses Learning Objects? Learning object designer creates tags for learning objects Instructional designer (teacher, LMT, Web designer) brings learning objects together

Clovis Unified School District. November Ideal Learning Object Use The creation of metadata must occur in the use of a learning object by many people These comments form part of the description of the object, aid in searching

Clovis Unified School District. November Structure of the Learning Objects Old: objects are placed in a sequence with limited branching – limited choices, need for uniformity, static, single focus – like in silos New: objects are placed in an environment – multiple choices, room for diversity, dynamic, multiple points of focus

Clovis Unified School District. November The Wider Context Linear  Multi-threaded Content Delivery  immersive, interactive Static, paced  dynamic, unpaced Demonstration  inference Learning objectives  learner goals Motivation  desire

Clovis Unified School District. November Using Learning Objects (1) Old: Static, paced Objects are organized in a predetermined order – the idea of succession The delivery or invocation of objects is determined by time or sequence This delivery is defined by an instructional designer or teacher

Clovis Unified School District. November Using Learning Objects (2) New: dynamic, unpaced Objects are not ordered; each persists independently of the others The delivery ore invocation of objects is triggered by events The use of learning objects is based on learner choices

Clovis Unified School District. November A Learning Object Repository Supports teachers teaching Supports student learning

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Objects in Repositories: Continuous, not interrupted Task or project oriented, not subject oriented Global, not local Dynamically organized, not statically predetermined Learner driven, not instructor driven

Clovis Unified School District. November Learning Object Repositories  CAREO - Campus Alberta Repository of Educational Objects   MERLOT – Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (images, documents, etc.)   CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY (images, diaries and letters, etc.) 

Clovis Unified School District. November Developing online content based on 5 th, 8 th and 11 th grade American history content standards.

Clovis Unified School District. November Libraries and Learning Objects LIBRARIES Books Learning Hub of School Lessons based on standards Information Literacy infused Other Examples? LO REPOSITORY Variety of media Central database for dynamic content Consistent standards in repositories Continual improvement and development

Clovis Unified School District. November How do we respond? Knowledge Promotion Continue to share Continue to promote sharing

Clovis Unified School District. November Sources Used Stephen Downes Web site and PowerPoint ideas (National Research Council of Canada) David Wiley information about Learning Objects (Utah State University)

Clovis Unified School District. November Contact Information Rob Darrow Library Media Teacher on Special Assignment, Online Learning Specialist Clovis Unified School District, Clovis, California Resources online at: