Introduction

Write it once ... use it many times.

This simple statement describes the function and attraction of extensible markup language (XML) as an authoring methodology. This paper describes XML and discusses how XML can be used in an instructional design setting to manage and facilitate the definition, use, and distribution of learning objects.

In its simplest form, a learning object is some discrete information that speaks to a specific learning objective² That being said, learning objects are not simple things, but complex constructs of information, presentation and interaction. Designers traditionally have 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. They have also spent long weary years learning how to use particular tools and will resist giving up their hard earned virtuosity, even when the tools in question are obviously a barrier to meaningful improvement.

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

XML has become a standard means of information interchange within the computer industry. Using XML to create and manage learning objects is not a theory but has a long track record of use in the real world. It offers greater efficiency without reducing the quality of the training deliverables.

Working within an XML environment requires a change in perspective. Instead of approaching each task as the resolution to a specific obstacle to learning for a specific 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 existing training can be pulled into this task and modified to work, without affecting the quality of the learning? What other training is relevant to the content currently under development? How can these new content objects be fitted to other uses?

Some experienced designers, who are more used to routine and repetitive iterations of vast waves of training materials, may find very little in the previous paragraph that speaks to their job description. Their organizations have identified deliverable requirements, methodologies and audiences for them and the designers are charged with producing the required quantity of training that meets a relatively low quality standard. The attractive feature of XML to these designers is that it offers a way to respond to practically impossible demands for training with substantially less drudgery, thus allowing designers to build at a higher standard of quality, which is (or should be) always on the nice-to-have list.

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 as those needs relate to the generalized requirements of the entire learning community. The importance of designers understanding the capabilities and rationale behind the content reuse system cannot be stated strongly enough.

The change over into an XML content development and production environment really represents the same quantum leap in capability as was achieved by replacing typewriters with word processing on computers. Managers must be evangelists of XML technology's liberating capabilities. They also must be zealous in training their staffs to understand these capabilities. There never has been a system so good that it could not be rendered totally ineffective by resistant participants.

One of the incidental benefits of operating in an XML learning object environment is that designers are exposed to 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 output is increased[7].