II Simposio Pluridisciplinar sobre Diseño, Evaluación y Descripción de Contenidos Educativos Reutilizables (SPDECE)

1. 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 Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

2. Overview • 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

3. Apologies • • no Català/Espanyol • • not an expert in learning objects • • from a different country/culture Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

4. Why this symposium is important • brings together Catalan/Spanish researchers/practitioners in re-usable educational digital materials • inter-disciplinary • sharing experiences • timely: institutions facing major challenges Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

5. 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

6. The challenge for institutions (cont.) • • 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

7. 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

8. c b a d Normal curve of distribution LO that will explain concept with a concrete example Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Financial goals • A continuum • freeware 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. References and contact • Univ. of Texas San Antonio list of repositories: • http://elearning.utsa.edu/guides/LO-repositories.htm • Normal curve of distribution: • http://www.ms.uky.edu/~mai/java/stat/GaltonMachine.html • Contact:tony.bates@ubc.ca • http://tonybates.ca Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya