Objects defined

One of the difficulties facing a trainer who’s interested in finding out more about learning objects – and if you’ve got this far, that probably includes you – is the wide variety of meanings applied to the term. The IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee defines learning objects as “any entity, digital or non-digital, which can be used, re-used or referenced during technology-supported learning.” When you consider that by ‘non-digital’ they mean ‘people, organisations and events’, you can see that this is a very broad definition indeed and one that at first sight does not seem to take us very far forward.

What helps more is to look at the granularity with which objects are defined. At one extreme, you can regard learning objects at a micro level, as media assets – images, paragraphs of text, questions, audio clips and so on. Although reusability at this level may help developers in assembling content, it certainly does little for the learner – who is not interested in how a learning component is made up, just the functionality that it provides.

At the other extreme, a learning object can be regarded as a fully self-contained piece of instruction, including information, mechanisms for practice and a means of assessment. This definition is certainly convenient for publishers, for whom a library of learning objects can be simply equated with a catalogue of products. However, not all learning objectives can be met in full by a single, integrated chunk of material. On the other hand, there is a danger that learning objects will become too large and inflexible, hindering reusability, personalisation and speedy, just-in-time access.

Somewhere between these two extremes is a definition for learning objects that will place the needs of learners first, whilst recognising the wide range of potential uses for, and benefits of learning objects. I couldn’t find one, so I invented my own:

A learning object is a small, reusable digital component that can be selectively applied – on its own or in combination with other learning objects – by computer software, learning facilitators or learners themselves, to meet individual needs for learning or performance support.

I never promised it would be easy to remember, just versatile! Just how versatile we’ll see as we explore the applications of learning objects further.