27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
Ten Things We've Learned in Ten Years:
What You Should Know About Learning Objects
Ann Del Ponte
Wisc-Online.com
Jay Stulo
Wisc-Online.com
When Wisc-Online was launched in 2000, the founders had no idea the website would eventually attract
650,000 unique visitors a month from 208 countries (Google Analytics, 2011). The site, a collaborative
effort of the 16 colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), was designed to use a
digital library of learning objects to improve learning for students at WTCS colleges -- it just so happened
the rest of the world came along for the ride.
Wisc-Online.com is a searchable website where learners can find, link, and use approximately 2,300
learning objects in more than 50 technical and non-technical categories. These interactive, animated
“chunks” of information, authored by faculty at colleges in WTCS, are available to be used at no cost by
anyone, anywhere in the world. Despite the fact that the learning objects are written only in English, data
from Google Analytics consistently show that only two or three nations in the world have not accessed
the site during a typical month.
Going global was not anticipated a decade ago. Even the term "learning objects" was new when the
project started. Organizers chose to define learning objects as "web-based, self-contained, reusable, small
chunks of learning" (Wisc-Online, 2011). That basic definition has stood the test of time and continues to
appear on Wisc-Online.com as well as in the academic literature. In their 2009 article in Educational
Technology Research & Development, R. Kay and L. Knaack defined learning objects more fully as
“interactive web-based tools that support the learning of specific concepts by enhancing, amplifying,
and/or guiding the cognitive processes of learners.”
The fact that learning objects are designed to be adaptable and flexible in any place of learning was a key
reason the Wisc-Online project was awarded a three-year, $1.6 million grant in 1999 from the Fund for
the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). The project purposely did not develop courses or
a curriculum (Wiley, 2001). The original plan was to develop a digital library of learning objects for nine
WTCS General Education courses. One year into the project, faculty members from math and science
disciplines asked to be included because they could see the potential for their students. Today, learning
objects in scientific and technical fields are some of the most popular objects on the website, with 437
learning objects dedicated to just electronics.
The most important questions continue to be: Do learning objects live up to the ideal? Do they teach and
remediate? Do they match the styles and paces of learners? Do they offer “real world” applications? Are
they stimulating and fun?
Some academics question whether learning object technology is used effectively. They warn that learning
must not take a backseat to graphics, and that flexibility is no substitute for guidance. "Most apparent is
the absence of supportive scaffolding for the student user; interactivity built on an ‘exploratory’ approach
can fall short of achieving its learning objective if support and guidance are missing for the student user
who fails to grasp the learning point being offered," writes J. Watson in the Electronic Journal of eLearning. An explicit design is necessary that would allow learning objects to be aggregated into resource
sets or "toolkits" (Watson, 2010). Wisc-Online emphasizes that while learning objects stand alone in
Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
terms of illustrating a concept, they have even greater potential when used mindfully as part of a
curriculum.
The Electromechanical Department at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton has combined learning
objects into a kind of toolkit for its DC Electronics course. During the 2004-2005 academic year, faculty
conducted an evaluation to determine the effectiveness of learning objects. The assessment was
performed twice, first to a group of 70 students enrolled in the DC Electronics course during the fall
semester, and again to another 45 students enrolled in the same course during the spring semester.
Students were randomly divided into two groups. The groups worked on the same experiments and had
access to the same lectures, textbooks, and videotapes. The difference was that Group B was assigned to
view learning objects that pertained to the assigned material before the initial quiz while Group A was
not. For the second of three quizzes, some of the members of the groups of students were switched;
students who had not been given initial access to the learning objects before the first quiz were now
assigned to view them before this unit quiz.
The three units were taught by seven instructors and involved 21 learning objects. All of the objects were
interactive, requiring students to answer questions while going through the activity. Most of the objects
were also animated, allowing electronics students to visualize such things as changes in current, voltage,
and resistance. The results showed that students who used learning objects scored significantly higher on
assessments than those who did not use them. To date, the creation of Wisc-Online learning objects for
technical education has been supported by two National Science Foundation grants.
As shown in the electronics learning object model, it is valuable to evaluate each object to determine its
effectiveness. In their 2009 article in Educational Technology Research & Development, R. Kay and L.
Knaack reported on a Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S) in a K-12 environment.
The objects were judged based on learning, quality or instructional design, and engagement.
In the case of Wisc-Online, FIPSE-funded projects required external evaluators, people with expertise
who were not part of the project itself. For the first three years of the project, Wisc-Online worked with
three evaluators who reviewed the learning object building process and each learning object. When the
FIPSE grant ended, and a consortium of the colleges in the WTCS system took over financial support of
the project, the evaluation piece was not continued. However, all authors are still required to have their
learning objects peer reviewed by a content expert. Wisc-Online also contains a feedback feature that
allows subject matter experts from anywhere in the world to critique any published learning object.
An unexpected endorsement of Wisc-Online came in 2005 when a learning object on the site received the
Pirelli International Award in the field of chemistry. The award carried a $15,000 euro prize and was
judged by Nobel Prize winners. It was presented in Rome to author Barb Liang, a teacher at Fox Valley
Technical College in Appleton. The jury wrote that the object, "Construction of the Cell Membrane,” was
selected “for its science communication effectiveness and ease of use. This work presents itself as a solid
instrument for the teaching of chemistry.” The learning object allows learners to build the cell membrane
by moving the molecules in a drag-and-drop exercise (Pirelli, 2005).
Recent research has advocated the creation of software that faculty members could use to build their own
learning objects without the aid of a multimedia technician (Watson, 2010). Wisc-Online has
experimented with templates for both learning objects and games. The game templates, a system called
GameBuilder on Wisc-Online.com, have been the more popular option, allowing instructors to enter their
own content. The website currently has 15 different templates to choose from. This is the only part of the
website that is not free for all users. WTCS faculty can use the templates free of charge; other users pay
an annual fee of $1 per template.
Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
The site, which was begun under the name The Wisc-Online Resource Center, was renamed WiscOnline.com in January of 2010 when it was rebuilt to improve search engine speed and accuracy and to
add a variety of features. It now has a more intuitive interface that allows users to find a desired learning
object quickly. Learning object thumbnails were placed on the site, and Web 2.0 features were added with
the creation of a My Wisc-Online page. The site was designed with best practices in mind to protect users
from typical website attacks. User data is protected with 64-bit encryption and secure socket layer
certificates. Security policies filter out cross-site scripting attempts that could expose users to malignant
sites.
Each learning object has its own unique URL address. Users may copy this address and use it on any
document/website they wish. As a member of Wisc-Online, site users have their own public Wisc-Online
page, called My Wisc-Online, on which to display their favorite learning objects. They may give the link
to this page to other educators, learners, or users.
The repository supports html, Flash (.swf), Director (.dcr), and video in .flv format. Currently, 95 percent
of the objects are created in Adobe Flash; however, plans are in place to offer other alternatives for
mobile users. Basic metadata standards for title, author, description, and keywords are used following a
modified LOM (learning object metadata) standard. Wisc-Online is developing a public API to allow the
repository to federate with other learning object-specific websites.
References
Google Analytics (2011) http://www.google.com/analytics/).
Kay, R., & Knaack, L. (2009). Assessing learning, quality and engagement in learning objects: the
Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S). Educational Technology Research &
Development, 57(2), 147-168. doi:10.1007/s11423-008-9094-5.
Pirelli International Award. Pirelli. Rome. (2005). Retrieved from
<http://www.pirelliaward.com/ed10_chm.html> (20
April 2011).
Watson, J. (2010). A case study: Developing learning objects with an explicit learning design. Electronic
Journal of e-Learning, 8(1), 41-50.
Wiley, D. (2001). Connecting learning objects to instructional design theory: A definition, a metaphor,
and a taxonomy. Chapter in Battle Stories from the Field: Wisconsin online resource center
learning objects project.
About the Presenters
Jay Stulo serves as senior software developer within the Learning Innovations Department at Fox Valley
Technical College. In additional to focusing on software development, he is responsible for keeping his
department on the cutting edge. As an educational technology consultant, Jay helps bridge the gap
between an instructor's ideas and what today's technology can provide. As senior developer of WI Career
Pathways.org, Jay built a website that gives high school students the resources they need to plan their
educational path to their desired careers. He is responsible for seeing that the site meets the needs of all of
Wisconsin's educational groups: the Department of Public Instruction, the University of Wisconsin
System, private colleges, and the Wisconsin Technical College System.
Address:
Phone:
Fox Valley Technical College
1825 N. Bluemound Drive
Appleton, WI 54912-2277
920-993-5109
Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
Email:
For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference
stulo@fvtc.edu
Ann K. Del Ponte has been the editor of Wisc-Online since it began in 2001. She has a bachelor's degree
in journalism and a master's degree in educational technology. After 20 years as an editor for newspapers
and magazines, Ann joined Fox Valley Technical College as a communications skills instructor. Although
she left that position to become editor of Wisc-Online, she continues to teach as an adjunct instructor so
she never forgets the "audience" for Wisc-Online learning objects.
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Fox Valley Technical College
1825 N. Bluemound Drive
Appleton, WI 54912-2277
920-831-4336
delponte@fvtc.edu
NOTE:
Wisc-Online.com is a searchable website where learners can find, link, and use 2,500 learning objects in
more than 50 technical and non-technical categories. Approximately 300,000 unique visitors come to
Wisc-Online each month. The learning objects are interactive, animated "chunks" of information and are
available to be used at no cost by teachers and students anywhere in the world. A consortium of the 16
colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System, whose faculty author the learning objects, continues
to support the site.
Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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