O. BERGE, A. FJUK
DESIGN OF RESUABLE LEARNING OBJECTS FOR
BLENDED ENVIRONMENTS
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O. BERGE AND A.FJUK
Abstract. The research presented in this poster is anchored in a problem area of learning and
teaching object-oriented programming. With this basis, the poster presents challenges associated with design of digital didactical modules that are aimed at being incorporated into blended
learning environments. Critical aspects are outlined from socio-cultural perspectives.
1. BACKGROUND
Object-orientation has become a fundamental basis for many popular programming languages (e.g., Java) and systems design methodologies used
today. Learning object-oriented concepts as well as lecturing about them,
have however proven to be complicated activities. It is not object-orientation
in principle that cause the problems, but the artefacts available to teach it
(Kölling 1999). The programming languages used are considered too complex and the learning environment does to a limited extent supporting objectoriented thinking (Kölling 1999). Furthermore, the pedagogical approaches
are often adjustments of approaches that are developed for non-object-oriented (procedural) programming (C. f. Nygaard 2002) and as such, offer the
wrong set of tools and abstractions. In an object-oriented way of modelling
the world, the fundamental concepts are considered as tightly interrelated
and implies a consideration of a problem area from many different perspectives (C.f. Madsen, Møller-Pedersen, Nygaard 1993; Madsen 2002). We
argue that collaborative learning approaches are particularly well suited for
considering a problem area through multiperspective reflection and discussions of opposed alternatives.
The three-year (2002-2005) research project COOL (Comprehensive Objectoriented Learning) is aimed at suggesting collaborative learning approaches
that incorporate the specific condition of object-orientation as well as digital
didactical modules on object-orientation (C. f. Nygaard 2002). This should be
operationalised through learning environments that are situated across
countries, institutional boundaries, ICT and didactical traditions. This poster
presents problem areas positioned in this complexity. It gives priority to
areas associated with the concept of reusable learning objects and how they
should be considered in blended learning environments.
2. PROBLEM AREA
Blended learning is a fairly new term (Kahn & Linquist 2002), but the concept
has been around for decades in areas like distance education. A core concern is to utilize the specific conditions manifested in a combination of available ICTs, pedagogical approaches, didactical techniques and various
learning resources so as to offer the students meaningful environments for
knowledge construction. Digital learning material constitutes one type of
artefacts that must have an essential position in the mediation of learning
activity. A critical problem area in this respect is thus how the digital material
– or the learning objects - should be understood so as to occupy a role as
mediator for knowledge construction.
LEARNING OBJECTS FOR BLENDED ENVIRONMENTS
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2.1. Understanding reusable learning objects
The concept of reusable learning objects (RLO) is a vital mechanism for
obtaining the goals of the standardization efforts taking place in the e-learning industry. The fundamental idea behind learning objects is that instructional designers can build small (relative to the size of an entire course) instructional components that can be reused a number of times in different
learning contexts (Wiley 2000). Learning content is broken down to modules,
where the content of the module is described with metadata. A standardized
approach to design of RLOs has the potential of achieving several benefits:
the module can be used in different courses, it can be used within different
Learning Management Systems, and it can be more easily updated than a
larger block of content. The content in the RLO can be any element usually
associated with multimedia content: text, graphics, animation, sound, movie,
or a combination of these.
The standardization initiatives’ choice of areas of concern seems to imply
some assumptions about learning that are usually associated with a cognitivist perspective. An analysis of the actors behind these initiatives strengthens this impression (Hoel 2003). In project COOL, however, we seek to explore the potential of using socio-cultural perspectives (Vygotsky 1978;
Engeström 1987). The unit of analysis is expanded to consider interaction
between different activity systems, and the complexity we are dealing with
increases. Using activity analysis to understand the role of learning objects
in blended learning environments would include all use activities, ICT and
tool producing activities, all teaching and knowledge construction activities,
as well as changes and contradictions in the use activities (Fjuk & Ludvigsen
2001). In designs of learning objects the following questions are particularly
interesting: How should the constellation of learning objects be designed to
become a mediator for the learning activity? In this context, we aim at exploring the duality between the communicative and the operational aspect of
human actions. First, this means how knowledge on object-orientation is
best constructed socially. Second, it implies the conditions of metadata and
standardization in the learning process. Closely connected to these issues,
is: How and to what extent should the pedagogical approaches be incorporated into the designs? This means considerations on whether the designs
should incorporate the pedagogical philosophy and as such, direct the use of
the learning objects. Furthermore, it also means a consideration on an opposite approach, i.e, to only design for the object-oriented content, and leave
the pedagogical philosophy to the organisational design.
These questions will be focused through an experimental summer course (at
University of Oslo, 2003) in object-oriented programming for novices. The
insights achieved during this experiments will be thoroughly consider in new
designs directed towards cases around the world.
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O. BERGE AND A.FJUK
Annita Fjuk is Associate Professor at Intermedia, University of Oslo, Norway
and Senior Researcher at Telenor R&D, Norway.
Ola Berge is Dr. Scient. student at Intermedia, University of Oslo, Norway
and Research Scientist at Telenor R&D, Norway.
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