Het verhaal gaat over leerobjecten, waarom we ze nodig hebben en waarom een zinvolle inzet ervan niet binnen de vigerende inrichting van het onderwijs past maar een transformatie daarvan vraagt. Geschetst wordt hoe dit zou kunnen, inclusief de rol die onderwijsmodelleertalen daarin kunnen spelen.
In this paper, I first discuss in some detail the current use of Learning Objects and show it to be wanting. Although their use, in principle, may offer much flexibility in creating content, in practice it will not, particularly since it does not support sufficient pedagogical flexibility. Then I offer an alternative view which, in my view, is indeed capable of fulfilling all the needs of customised learning, both the need for custom content and the need for custom pedagogies. I conclude by addressing some possible criticisms of my line of reasoning. This Chapter is a remake of Necessary Conditions for the Flexible Reuse of Educational Content.
Learning objects are bits of learning content. They may be reused 'as is' (simple reuse) or first be adapted to a learner's particular needs (flexible reuse). Reuse matters because it lowers the development costs of learning objects, flexible reuse matters because it allows one to address learners' needs in an affordable way. Flexible reuse is particularly important in the knowledge economy, where learners not only have very spefic demands but often also need to pay for their own further education. The technical problems to simple and flexible are rapidly being resolved in various learning technology standardisation bodies. This may suggest that a learning object economy, in which learning objects are freely exchanged, updated and adapted, is about to emerge. Such a belief, however, ignores the significant psychological, social and organizational barriers to reuse that still abound. An inventory of these problems is made and possible ways to overcome them are discussed.
Inleidend verhaal over normalisatie in het algemeen en normalisatie met betrekking tot leertechnologieën in het bijzonder. Ook op de NEN-website te vinden.
Laurillard and McAndrew put forth an argument in favor of the re-use of educational software. Valid though this argument in principle is, the instruments they suggest seem to lack the power needed to establish re-use in practice. However, educational modelling languages such as in particular the OUNL's EML and its IMS reincarnation Learning Design, seem to provide the necessary means for re-use in practice.
This paper discusses two studies - the one in a business context, the other in a university context - carried out with expert educational designers. The studies aimed to determine the priorities experts claim to employ when designing competence-based learning environments. Designers in both contexts agree almost completely on principles they feel are important. Both groups emphasized that one should start a design enterprise from the needs of the learners, instead of the content structure of the learning domain. However, unlike business designers, university designers find it extremely important to consider alternative solutions during the whole design process. University designers also say that they focus more on project plan and desired characteristics of the instructional blueprint whereas business designers report being more client-oriented, stressing the importance of "buying in" the client early in the process.
Dit hoofdstuk uit een inmiddels verschenen boek bespreekt de terminologie en functie van een aantal bij e-learning veelgebruikte typen softwaresystemen.
Dit hoofdstuk volgt op het hierboven genoemde dat de achtergronden bespreekt van bij e-learning gebruikte softwaresystemen. Het inventariseert welke criteria gebruikt kunnen worden om uit concrete systemen te kunnen kiezen.
Een column op de Surf Educatie‹F›-site over de noodzaak van Nederlandse initiatieven bij te dragen aan het standaardiseren van leertechnologieën. Reacties van lezers plus een reactie van mij zijn op de site opgenomen.
A short paper on the whats and the hows of learning technology standardization.
This paper discusses two conditions for a reusable learning object economy to become established. The first condition is a familiar one, it uses information objects that are described through metadata. The second condition is new, it builds on the information objects, but in addition to this calls for the use of an educational modelling language to generate true learning objects. The paper claims that, contrary to what seems to be the consensus, both conditions and not just the first are necessary to realise flexible reuse of learning objects.
This paper discusses two approaches to the reuse of learning materials. The first approach is a familiar one, it uses chunks of content that are described through metadata. The metadata should afford their reuse by detailing the conditions of their deployment. This approach, I contend, is not satisfactory and will ultimately fail to elicit actual reuse. The second approach is relatively new, it builds on recently developed pedagogical meta-languages with which the pedagogical inner structure of learning objects may be described. Through the use of such languages, one of which is described in some detail, actual reuse may be brought about.
By forming a consortium of universities and colleges Dutch higher education has made an important move towards e-learning. But how does one benefit from collaboration?
De Open Universiteit transformeert zichzelf in een digitale Open Universiteit. Hoe gaat dat in zijn werk?
Modern communication and information technologies have offered educators a range of new and exciting possibilities to design their instruction. On the upside, Cybereducation holds many promises for the student: more freedom, more and more readily available resources, more diversity, and more flexibility. On the downside we note that education may become dehumanized and students may drown in a sea of information. This chapter discusses our view of the future of Cybereducation.
The first part describes and discusses a recent experiment in Cybereducation: the Virtual Learning Company, a distributed, virtual learning environment, which aims to bridge the gap between education and professional working. Although it makes extensive use of advanced information and communication technologies, the true innovative power of the Virtual Learning Company lies in the underlying, new educational framework.
The second part of this chapter is far more speculative. Starting from a number of presumed technological innovations we reflect upon the future of Cybereducation at large. We surmise that the decisive factor is the kind of impact we allow technology to have on the fabric of our society.
Society at large changes rapidly, so does education. Higher education is confronted with new target groups and new educational demands. Providing education to them in a face-to-face setting rapidly becomes expensive, often prohibitively so. The paper argues that the use of ICT merely to enhance existing practices will not do to meet the new demands effectively. Innovative, ICT supported means of developing educational content and delivering it are needed.
Het hoger onderwijs wordt geconfronteerd met allerlei nieuwe groepen van onderwijsvragenden. Het verzorgen van contactonderwijs voor deze groepen is zeer kostbaar omdat de overheid dit onderwijs niet of nauwelijks subsidieert. Het artikel betoogt dat de inzet van ICT om de kosten te drukken niet effectief is, vigerende ambachtelijke onderwijsmethoden zullen vooral vervangen moeten worden door nieuwe, bedrijfsmatige onderwijsmethoden zoals die al bekend zijn uit het modulair afstandsonderwijs. Alleen door dit soort onderwijs te combineren met de inzet van daarvoor geschikte ICT in zogeheten gedistribueerde leersystemen kan de vereiste flexibiliteit waar de nieuwe doelgroepen om vragen betaalbaar worden gerealiseerd. Ten slotte verdient het aanbeveling dat instellingen van hoger onderwijs onderling samenwerken om de hoge kosten van het ontwikkelen van onderwijsmaterialen die geschikt zijn voor gedistribueerde leersystemen, met elkaar te delen.
The paper describes a EU-supported, collaborative project between four universities in four different European countries. Jointly an introductory course in the realm of environmental science was developed. The course made use of three different media: an ordinary paper-based course book, interactive satellite mediated TV-sessions with the possibility for student-teacher interaction via video-conferencing, and a groupware system that supported both student-student and student-teacher interactions.