Kimberly Hoyt Walden University EDUC 8841 July 1, 2011

Learning Objects in Education What are learning objects? How are they used in online education? Why are they important? How are they developed and used? What are the barriers to their development? How are they tracked and reused? What is their potential impact on student learning?

The Innovation-Development Process What problem or need existed that gave rise to learning objects? Create electronic objects that can be reused for different learning situations. Identify electronic objects that can be used to create a unique learning experience for each learner based on ability and learning style. Identify characteristics of electronic objects, including metadata to track success.

The Innovation-Development Process What research organization or people developed a solution to this problem? Multimedia Experts Online Educators Textbook Publishers Individual Graphic Design Teams

The Innovation-Development Process What were there findings? Multimedia Learning can be used for Response Strengthening Information Acquisition Knowledge Construction

The Innovation-Development Process What were there findings? Multimedia Principles Coherence Signaling Redundancy Spatial Contiguity Temporal Contiguity Segmenting Pre-Training Modality Personalization

The Innovation-Development Process What problems did learning objects encounter in the development process? Barriers to Developing and Using Learning Objects Definitional Skill deficits and the work involved in developing learning objections The structure of repositories The lack of learning objects in some disciplines The quality of available learning objects, The granularity of the learning objects themselves The metatagging and cataloguing in repositories Copyright and intellectual property issues Attitudinal

The Innovation-Development Process The production, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, and distribution of learning objects Learning Management Systems Textbook Publisher Resources Individual Instructional Design teams

The Innovation-Decision Process Decision Stages Knowledge Persuasion Decision Implementation Confirmation Communication Channels

Perceived Attributes of Innovations Key Innovators and Early Adopters Strategies to Persuade Adoption Key Laggards Likelihood of rejecting innovation Strategies to move them toward adoption Perceived Most Useful for Achieving Critical Mass

S- Curve for Learning Objects

Organizational Innovations Role of the Champion Defining the need for learning objects in online education Matching the need for learning objects to the online learning environment

Innovators and Early Adopters Who are the innovators and early adopters in online education? Curriculum Developers Online Academics Administrators Online Technologies Managers

Strategies for Adopting Learning Objects What are the most persuasive arguments for adopting learning objects in online education? Creating a unique learning experience for each student Enabling students to use a variety of tools to achieve learning outcomes and instructional objectives Positive impact on student perception and satisfaction in learning

Laggards and Rejecters Who is most likely to reject learning objects within the online learning environment? Subject Matter Experts Ground instructors Campus Administrators

Strategies for Adopting Learning Objects What are the most persuasive arguments for moving laggards toward adoption? Creating tools that are easy to use Creating objects that demonstrate valuable additions to course content Creating objects that enable the instructor to highlight import information Positive impact on student perception and satisfaction in learning

Attributes of Innovation Rate of Adoption Type of Innovation Nature of Communication Channels Nature of Social System Change Agent Efforts Relative Advantage Compatibility Trialability Observability Complexity

Perceived Attributes for Critical Mass Which combination of perceived attributes would be best for helping your innovation meet critical mass in your industry? Complexity – Learning objects must be easy to use, reuse, and develop Relative advantage – Student learning must be positively impacted and add to student- student and student instructor relationships Compatible – Learning objects must positively influence student learning by assisting in meeting instructional objectives and course outcomes

Critical Mass and Change Agents Centralized Key Change Agents Critical Mass of Innovation in Online Education Four Strategies for Achieving Critical Mass

Centralized Diffusion Approach Characteristics of Learning Objects that require a centralized approach Metadata – need to be able to track information about object and use with different learning styles Reuse – learning objects can be used as examples for multiple purposes in different areas of instruction Update – learning objects can be updated easily, allowing for version control and impact analysis of objects

Key Change Agents The primary agents for building a Learning Object Repository and using Learning Objects IT – configuration and implementation Curriculum – designing and populating LOR with effective learning objects for entire organization Online Academic team – incorporating learning objects in online courses and analyzing impact on student learning

Critical Mass of Innovation Learning Objects have not reached critical mass in online education Learning Object Repositories are still being designed, configured, and implemented Without an effective LOR, learning objects are difficult to locate, use, and reuse Many areas of instruction do not have learning objects. Curriculum teams and publishers are rapidly building learning objects.

Strategies for Reaching Critical Mass Launch Effective Learning Object Repositories Populate LOR with existing Learning Objects Build Appropriate Learning Objects Analyze Effectiveness of Learning Objects in Online Instruction

References Mayer, R. (2009). Multimedia learning (2 nd ed). New York: Cambridge University Press. Moisey, S. D., Ally, M., & Spencer, B. (2006). Factors affecting the development and use of learning objects. American Journal of Distance Education, 20(3), 143–161. Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.