Keeping the Learning in Learning Objects

Using Wiley & Edwards definition of a "learning object" as "any digital resource that can be reused to mediate learning" (2002), the NLII has been exploring what needs to happen for teaching and learning to become the sustained center of rhetoric in exploration of learning objects; and in particular, how learning objects relate to deeper learning principles.

An NLII Fall Focus Session on Learning Objects is being held to reflect on the assumptions and practices regarding the use of learning objects in higher education and in other related fields, explore emerging principles for their use for deeper learning, and investigate issues about and attributes of learning objects and the broader management of knowledge.

During this webcast, three of the speakers from the NLII's fall focus session -Patricia McGee, Ellen Wagner and Mike Kolitsky - will tackle the questions: What is a useful conceptual framework and common vocabulary for effectively exploring the issues related to learning objects, in a pedagogical context? What is the potential of learning objects to support deeper learning and how might we approach evaluating learning objects, when deeper learning is the focus? What are the policy issues that may be barriers to the use of learning objects to support deeper learning?