Learning Objects and RepositoriesAll comments and links come from OLDaily
by Stephen Downes
http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm
Open Education: Moving From Concept to Reality
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/OE_presentation.htm
Notes from an online seminar being conducted for members of the open-education.org project. This presentation outlines the history and concept of open content in education, summarizes the DLORN system used to distribute open content, and considers issues related to the management of open content initiatives. Distributed Learning Object Repository Network <http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/dlorn/dlorn> (DLORN)
5 Step Guide to Becoming a Content Provider in the JISC Information Environment
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/info-environment/
This plan will work not only for JISC but for distributed learning object repository networks in general. The plan:
1. Expose metadata about your content - OAI and Z39.50
2. Share news/alerts using RSS
3. Become an OpenURL source
4. Become an OpenURL target
5. Use persistent URIs
Bundles? Publihing companies? Who needs all that? Just get your metadata out there and make sure it points to learning objects. The network does the rest.(Thanks to S.I.T. for the link) By Andy Powell, Ariadne, October 10, 2002
Fast Buck Artistry?
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/view.cgi?dbs=Article&key=1039643254
Most of the objections to the use of learning objects confuse what they are with how they are used. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, December 10, 2002
Learning Objects 101: A Primer for Neophytes
http://online.bcit.ca/sidebars/02november/inside-out-1.htm
A short item that won't introduce anything new on the subject but which covers the topic in a dozen or so brisk pararaphs. By Glenn Millar, SideBars, November, 2002
The Lattecentric Ecosystem
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/view.cgi?dbs=Article&key=1037890664
Much of the confusion related to learning objects lies in a fundamental misconstrual of their nature and function. Learning objects are not like chapters and lessons to be placed in a linear system. They are progressively more complex entities than written text, and are therefore subject to a different grammar, a grammar that may be characterized as a type of network semantics inhabiting a lattecentric ecosystem. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, November 21, 2002
Preparing Teachers To Use Learning Objects
http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=961
Good article looking at the practical application of learning objects in the classroom. Looks at the reasons teachers would want to use learning objects and means of motivating teachers, including help in finding and developing them, help in determining lesson objectives, and a graduated approach for novices. By Tuiren A. Bratina, Darrin Hayes and Steven L. Blumsack, The Technology Source, November, 2002
Problems and Issues in Online Learning
http://education.qld.gov.au/staff/learning/courses/sdownesoct.html
In general the issues surrounding the location, distribution and reuse of learning resources online have to do with system architecture and resource based on what I call the "silo model." On the silo model, resources are not designed or intended for wide distribution. Rather, they are located in a particular location, or a particular format, are intended for one sort of use only. By Stephen Downes, The Learning Place, November 7, 2002
RSS DevCenter
http://www.oreillynet.com/rss/
A lot of my thinking about learning object repository networks is cenetered around my knowledge of and work in Rich Site Summary (you can, for example, get an RSS version of OLDaily). I like RSS a lot because it has a very low entry barrier and because it is an actual working network instantiating many of the ideas already at play. This page is a general resource on RSS that Rod sent to me, a great source for a detailed understanding on the specification and its uses. By Various Authors, O'Reilly Network, Undated
Componentization
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/view.cgi?dbs=Article&key=1036545605
Stephen Lanahas challenges my conception of a component- based learning object repository network. I think he raises serious issues. But they are issues with the potential for a good response. From my perspective, the internet - and web - is itself the clearest example of the success of componentization. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, November 6, 2002
DSpace
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspace/
Source code dowloads for MIT's DSpace project, an open source digital repository created to capture, distribute and preserve the intellectual output of MIT. By various Authors, OSDN, November 4, 2002
Tech's Newest Trend - Decentralization
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-963167.html
It has at times felt like a lonely campaign for me, but in various projects (and lately, on the elearning leader's list) I have been arguing for a decentralized learning object repository network. Not everybody agrees. So items like this make me feel warm inside. "Decentralization will be the critical challenge for the technology, media and telecommunications industries. Each has developed with the assumption that powerful central forces will manage development. Enterprise IT has 'big iron' servers and monolithic software applications; communications has carriers investing in huge infrastructure build-outs; and media has content owners controlling distributions channels. These approaches are under siege--and not because there's a New Economy, or because information deserves to be free, or because of any fluctuation in the stock market. Centralized systems are failing for two simple reasons: They can't scale, and they don't reflect the real world of people." Yes. I feel so warm and fuzzy now. By Kevin Werbach, ZD Net, October 24, 2002
Faceted Classification of Information
http://www.kmconnection.com/DOC100100.htm
Good discussion of an obscure, but important, concept. The idea is that in a large and rapidly changing body of information it makes no sense to assign resources to pre-assigned categories. These change, hierarchies change, cross-categorization is a reality, not an idle concern. This is something I learned creating the knowledge base for OLDaily, which is why when you look at the list of categories on this site, it is never quite the same as it was last week. By Paul Murray, Knowledge Management Connection, October, 2002
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