Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 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 1. why this symposium is important 2. the challenge for institutions 3. a teacher’s perspective 4. a manager’s perspective 5. priorities for research and development 6. conclusions

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

Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 4 Why this symposium is important 1. brings together Catalan/Spanish researchers/practitioners in re- usable educational digital materials 2. inter-disciplinary 3. sharing experiences 4. timely: institutions facing major challenges

Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 5 The challenge for institutions rapid growth of e-learning world-wide 3 to 4 million campus-based e-learners 3 to 4 million campus-based e-learners 0.4 million public fully online learners 0.4 million public fully online learners 3.4 million corporate online learners 3.4 million corporate online learners growth-rate: 10-15% per year 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 modelsappropriate pedagogical models methods of workingmethods of working training/professional developmenttraining/professional development strategies for e-learningstrategies for e-learning choice of tools + serviceschoice of tools + services qualityquality costs and funding of e-learningcosts and funding of e-learning content managementcontent 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 Normal curve of distribution a b c d 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 learning object repositories statistics statistics probability probability normal curve of distribution 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 normal curve of distribution 5.9 million hits on ‘normal curve of distribution’ 5.9 million hits on ‘normal curve of distribution’ item 6: a Java applet item 6: a Java applet GaltonMachine.html GaltonMachine.html time: 3 minutes 40 seconds time: 3 minutes 40 seconds

Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 13 Research conclusions LO repositories not yet useful tool for teachers LO repositories not yet useful tool for teachers too much on theory, tools, standards, not enough content too much on theory, tools, standards, not enough content more attention to user needs: preview, examples, easier search more attention to user needs: preview, examples, easier search repositories must add value to what teacher can do; Google better 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 how to create, store, access materials so they can be re-used IP issues: who owns, what use? IP issues: who owns, what use? financial goals financial goals business case for tagging 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 freewaresell ‘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 + ) 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 more attention to teachers’ requirements: previews, examples, better search engines develop/evaluate LO-based teaching develop/evaluate LO-based teaching combine new teaching designs with LO-based content creation combine new teaching designs with LO-based content creation measure and track costs measure and track costs

Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 20 Conclusions time is running out: roughly 10 years to justify an IT solution time is running out: roughly 10 years to justify an IT solution content, content, content: but not ANY content; content, content, content: but not ANY content; added value: simulations, tests, animations, interactive learning, valuable learning objectives: what teachers can’t do alone 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 the need to manage content will increase LOs can reduce cost LOs can reduce cost more effective teaching approaches? more effective teaching approaches? problems are mainly policy/teacher training, not technology problems are mainly policy/teacher training, not technology content is the key. content is the key.

Tony Bates, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 22 References and contact Univ. of Texas San Antonio list of repositories: repositories.htm repositories.htm Normal curve of distribution: tonMachine.html tonMachine.html Contact: