II Simposio Pluridisciplinar sobre Diseño,
Evaluación y Descripción de Contenidos
Educativos Reutilizables (SPDECE)
Questioning the value
of re-usable learning
objects in education:
the need for a business
case
1
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Overview
1.
2.
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6.
why this symposium is important
the challenge for institutions
a teacher’s perspective
a manager’s perspective
priorities for research and
development
conclusions
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
2
Apologies
• no Català/Espanyol
• not an expert in learning objects
• from a different country/culture
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
3
Why this symposium is important
1.
2.
3.
4.
brings together Catalan/Spanish
researchers/practitioners in reusable educational digital materials
inter-disciplinary
sharing experiences
timely: institutions facing major
challenges
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
4
The challenge for institutions
rapid growth of e-learning
2003-2004 world-wide
• 3 to 4 million campus-based e-learners
• 0.4 million public fully online learners
• 3.4 million corporate online learners
• growth-rate: 10-15% per year
A lot of digital materials!
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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The challenge for institutions (cont.)
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appropriate pedagogical models
methods of working
training/professional development
strategies for e-learning
choice of tools + services
quality
costs and funding of e-learning
content management
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
6
Challenges for teachers
Very little ‘tagged’ LOs available
over the web
Ariadne: 20,000 objects, MERLOT
13,000
Cisco systems: 200,000 - mainly test
items
Difficult to locate
Test: normal curve of distribution
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Normal curve of distribution
b
a
c
d
LO that will explain concept with a
concrete example
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Normal curve of distribution
Google search for learning object
repositories
Key words:
• learning object repositories
• statistics
• probability
• normal curve of distribution
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Results: learning object repositories
Univ. Texas San Antonio: 22
repositories, 9 US, 5 Canada, 13
‘open’
At least three no longer funded or
not yet open
Did not include Open College
(Russia, 700, commercial) or Cisco
Academy (private)
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
10
Results: learning object repositories
(cont.)
Looked at seven:
MERLOT, ALI, Wisc Online, US
Ariadne, Europe
AESharenet, Australia
CAREO, CLEO, Canada
1 hit for normal curve: MERLOT
Many ‘objects’ not LOs, poor quality
time: 6 hours 5 mins of searching
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
11
Results: Google search
Keyword:
• normal curve of distribution
• 5.9 million hits on ‘normal curve of
distribution’
• item 6: a Java applet
http://www.ms.uky.edu/~mai/java/stat/
GaltonMachine.html
• time: 3 minutes 40 seconds
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
12
Research conclusions
• LO repositories not yet useful tool
for teachers
• too much on theory, tools,
standards, not enough content
• more attention to user needs:
preview, examples, easier search
• repositories must add value to
what teacher can do; Google better
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
13
A manager’s perspective
A strategic perspective on content
management
• how to create, store, access
materials so they can be re-used
• IP issues: who owns, what use?
• financial goals
• business case for tagging
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Managing digital learning materials
UBC: 27 courses on statistics
Need to know how to find, re-use
materials
What to store: different versions of
courses; student discussions;
save useful material
Who manages this: Library?
Semantic meaning? What cost?
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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IP issues
What rewards for creators of
learning materials?
Moral rights: who decides?
Different kinds of rights: e.g.
Creative Commons
Third party rights management
Who manages IP and how? What is
the cost?
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Financial goals
freeware
A continuum
sell ‘abroad’
sell all
What is the market? internal vs
external use?
costs vs revenues
academic motivation
who decides?
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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The business case for tagging
Must be: easier than Google;
cheaper than the FL standard, e.g.
Scottish National Museum
(FL = female librarian + e-mail)
How much to tag? compared with
development costs?
Need for business models: costs +
benefits
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
18
Priorities for research and development
. high quality, value-added LOs
• more attention to teachers’
requirements: previews, examples,
better search engines
• develop/evaluate LO-based teaching
• combine new teaching designs with
LO-based content creation
• measure and track costs
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Conclusions
• time is running out: roughly 10
years to justify an IT solution
• content, content, content: but not
ANY content;
• added value: simulations, tests,
animations, interactive learning,
valuable learning objectives: what
teachers can’t do alone
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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Conclusions
You have a challenge but:
• the need to manage content will
increase
• LOs can reduce cost
• more effective teaching approaches?
• problems are mainly policy/teacher
training, not technology
• content is the key.
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
21
References and contact
Univ. of Texas San Antonio list of
repositories:
http://elearning.utsa.edu/guides/LOrepositories.htm
Normal curve of distribution:
http://www.ms.uky.edu/~mai/java/stat/Gal
tonMachine.html
Contact: tony.bates@ubc.ca
http://tonybates.ca
Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
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