Subject: LO and Reuse
From: Yigal Plot (yigal.plot@sunderland.ac.uk)
Date: Wed 23 Feb 2000 - 02:38:11 MET
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 01:38:11 +0000 From: Yigal Plot <yigal.plot@sunderland.ac.uk> Subject: LO and Reuse
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Brief comments on LO and reuse.
1. My understanding of LO in the context of the new LTSC/IMS standards
(there are many sources for information on these standards. The most recent
one is the SCORM document, that Frank Lowney referred to. It can be found on
www.adlnet.org ) :
Not every LO will be reusable. There is a distinction between different
types of LO.
a. Raw media - basic elements like pictures, text, sounds etc..., that are
expected to be used and reused only during the creation of the SCO
(Shareable Courseware Object).
b. SCO - a course or a part of a course - that can be reused and exchanged
between systems. These units can be small or large and contain smaller SCO,
but authors will be encouraged to produce small units. We may soon see "best
practice" guides, on how to author LO specifically for reuse.
2. There is concern as to the coherence of a course that is produced by
aggregating LO. As I wrote before, it will be the responsibility of whoever
is in charge of authoring or delivering the course. As long as a human is in
control of the process, it may not be easy, but manageable.
I believe that the real problem will come some time in the future, when the
number of learners will be so large, that the course providers will not be
able to manually adapt and assemble "personal courses" for each student.
Intelligent systems will do these tasks, and in this context coherence is a
big problem and research question.
3. There was some discussion as to the reusability of software objects. I
suggest looking at the electronic design industry. Electronic chips (Asics,
FPGAs) are designed using Hardware Description Languages (HDL) like VHDL or
Verilog. The designs are so large and complex, it is impossible to meet
time-to-market demands without using pre-designed HDL objects, called IP
(Intellectual Property) or VC (Virtual Components), that can be bought from
commercial IP providers. The same IP can be reused in different designs by
different companies. IP for reuse is a successful business. For more
information: www.vsi.org/about.htm.
Demand for IP reuse is driven by time-to-market and competition. The same
will happen in the E-learning business, where reuse has financial rewards
for content and course providers, as well as for authors.
Yigal Plot
PhD student
University of Sunderland - UK
Phone: +44-191-515-3206
Email: yigal.plot@sunderland.ac.uk
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