What are LOs?
So you’ve been hearing this term being thrown around departmental talks on ways to incorporate technology into the classroom but what does it mean? Learn-e What-e? Learning objects (or LOs). Oh, and what are they? Well at their most basic level, they are types of media that can be used and reused to support learning. That’s right, learning object is a fancy new term for describing a learning resource. Well you’re already using learning objects then when you bring in your old VHS tapes of movie clips and torn out pages from magazines and photos to illustrate the topic of the day. Well yes . . .
. . . and no. You’re on the right track so getting there shouldn’t be too challenging. It’s true that learning objects can be pictures and movies, as well as documents, simulations, sounds, games or any other type of media. But the media object must have an educational objective; learning must be the primary aim of the object in order for it to be deemed a learning object. Oh! Well that makes sense.
But here is where it gets tricky because not everyone agrees exactly on what constitutes a learning object. Most define it as a digital resource; some learning material you use online , off of a DVD or off of the campus Learning Management System (LMS) (I’m talking Blackboard here or WebCT for the slow to update). But a minority argue that being digital isn’t necessary as long as the object is instructional and supports learning.
Other key defining qualities are that the object must be both a small component (often referred to as a “chunk” or granule), and reusable, meaning that the instructional object can be used many times and in different learning contexts. Small is important because the abbreviated size is more manageable and conducive to an online culture of learning. Also by having objects centered around a single concept, course objective, or skill building exercise, their small size can more effectively lead to their reuse in overlapping disciplines.
OK already, so what are they?
Well they are that movie clip on your VHS tape you mentioned earlier, digitized, with text added to help demonstrate that key concept in your lesson, compiled together and then uploaded somewhere where the students can access it and use it as many times as they like, whenever they like, and wherever they like.
But that’s just one example from a bizillion different things a learning object can be and/or look like. They can be online quizzes, puzzles, games, simulations, animations, audio clips, video clips, slideshows, interactive timelines or diagrams, or any combination thereof. Remember, a learning object can be virtually any digitized resource that aids in learning that you can dream up. Here’s a very short list of ideas to get you thinking:
- match game to identify concepts or theories or build vocabulary
- interactive timeline to be used for history and political science courses
- three -dimensional example of mathematical formulas used in math and science courses
- animated interactive of a medical procedure, where students can read about the procedure, view it in action, and actually interact with it.
- simulations of role-play between a patient and a psychologist to give psychology students a sense of a real-life experience of being in session with a patient.
- a training video/ animation used as a visual tool for learning sign language, foreign languages, job training.
