next up previous index
Next: Terminology Up: XML and Code Reuse Previous: XML and Code Reuse   Index


Introduction

.6in .5in Write it once ... use it many times.

This simple statement describes the function and the attraction of XML as an authoring methodology. This paper is about XML and how XML can be used in an instructional design setting to manage and facilitate the definition and use of learning objects.

In its most simple form, a learning object is simply some discrete particle of knowledge that addresses a specific learning objective. That being said, learning objects are not simple things, but complex constructs of information, presentation and interaction. Designers have traditionally seen themselves as artisans who created unique learning tools for each new learning situation. They have been very slow to transition their thinking to a systematized approach to the development and delivery of learning.

At the same time, the enterprises in which most instructional designers work have been under increasing pressure to provide training more efficiently. Training departments that are unwilling or unable to deliver substantial increases in efficiency risk being replaced by outside contracting firms who promise that they can deliver these improvements.

The technology of XML has become a standard means of information interchange within the computer industry. Using XML as the underlying methodology for creating and using learning objects is a proven technology that offers the possibility of achieving the required economies without reducing the quality level of the training deliverables.

Working within an XML environment effectively requires a change in perspective. Instead of approaching each task as the resolution of a specific obstacle to learning for a specific student audience, the designer must analyze the task in a wider context. With whom does this audience share this learning requirement? How can this learning obstacle be resolved for all students? If this objective does not apply to other groups, are there components within it that do apply to a wider audience? What other training that already exists can be pulled into this task and modified slightly to work, without affecting the quality of the learning outcomes? What other training is relevant to the content currently under development. How can these new content objects be repurposed to other uses?

\includegraphics[width=5in]{Images/change.eps}

Instead of being a creative artist fashioning unique responses to specific learning requirements, the designer becomes a production professional who analyzes the learning needs of a specific group of students as those needs relate to the generalized requirements of the learning community. The importance of getting designers to understand the capabilities and rationale behind the content reuse system cannot be stated strongly enough. There has never been a system that was so good that it could not be rendered totally ineffective by its participants, if they persist in resisting its use. Managers must be evangelists of the liberating capabilities of XML technology and must be zealous in training their staff to understand and use these capabilities.

One of the incidental benefits of operating in a learning object environment is that individual designers are exposed to the content created by other designers much more than in traditional project environments. Properly managed, the specialized understanding of different teams is more effectively shared and the quality of the organizational output is increased[11].



Subsections
next up previous index
Next: Terminology Up: XML and Code Reuse Previous: XML and Code Reuse   Index
root 2003-07-21