This week I had the pleasure of exploring learning objects. That's a succinct descriptor for self-contained educational experiences.
Here's the longer explanation: A learning object is a digital or non-digital resource specifically designed to support learning and instructional goals. These resources are modular, reusable, and can range from a single image or video to more complex tools like interactive simulations or complete lesson plans. The key characteristics of learning objects include:
Reusability: They can be utilized across different educational contexts or courses.
Interoperability: They are often designed to function within various learning management systems (LMS).
Specificity: They target a particular learning outcome or objective.
Self-contained: They provide enough information or context to be independently meaningful.
Examples include PowerPoint presentations, e-learning modules, quizzes, and educational games. These objects are frequently used in both traditional and online learning environments to enhance engagement and facilitate mastery of specific concepts or skills.
This is an interesting paradox when it comes to online higher education. We hand students a series of learning objects and they work in isolation on them and then we record that learning has occurred when they have completed enough of them.
I'm all for creating scalable, reusable, self-contained activities that help us learn. But somewhere in this arrangement we have removed the role of the professor to interact and guide learning. In the old-fashioned classrooms of my childhood, we would do these self-contained learning experiences (we usually called them worksheets). And then once we were done, the instructor would review our work and talk with us more.
As I spend most days creating learning objects for online higher education, I am a strong proponent of them. However, I also find that they are often overused, and worse, replace the instructor interaction completely. Part of learning involves sharing a collective knowledge. That's what builds communities of diverse people. It's what allows us to have deeper and deeper conversations in those communities.
But now, we have a large percentage of online-only higher ed students that are not learning the conversational part of learning. Experiences are not objects. They are unique and personal to each student. When we replace the role of instructor with self-contained lessons, we run the risk of dehumanizing learning, and eventually the learners themselves.
Instead, I'd love to see a shift in online higher ed where students and instructors genuinely talk to one another. After getting to know more about each other, experiences, and goals, the instructor then suggests the activities that would help each student better learn the material that would help them. And I'd like to see it be ok if those suggestions are not the same. This one-size-fits-all standardized learning that educational institutions repeatedly try to create is not going to create lifelong learners that are capable of full expression.
Are we trying to serve the students or decrease our workload as educators when we try to package experience like McDonald's packages a Big Mac?
Comments