Design and Reusability of Learning Objects in an Academic Context: a new Economy of Education?

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Overview

In general the issues surrounding the location, distribution and reuse of learning resources online have to do with system architecture and resource based on what I call the “silo model.” On the silo model, resources are not designed or intended for wide distribution. Rather, they are located in a particular location, or a particular format, are intended for one sort of use only.

The silo model is dysfunctional because it prevents, in some essential way, the location and sharing of learning resources. In an important sense, such resources or architectures are broken because they require some additional step, usually involving manual labour, in order for developers or learners to make use of the material. The requirement of such a step adds significantly to the cost of a learning resource and in some case may prohibit its use altogether. In fairness, this cost or prohibition may be imposed by design. But from the point of view of a learning object economy, the resource or architecture is unusable.
There are numerous ways a learning resource or architecture may follow the silo model. In this section, a number of these are listed. Few products embody all of these problems. But most contain instances of at least one of these problems. And even a single instance of the silo model is enough to prevent a learning resource or architecture from being used as part of a network.

Proprietary Standards

A standard is proprietary when it is secret or when patents, copyrights or other restrictions prohibit its use. The standard is created by a commercial entity and specifies “equipment, practices, or operations unique to that commercial entity.” (National Communications System, 1996) With the advent of the internet, proprietary standards are much less of an issue than in years past. Nonetheless, proprietary standards continue to abound, especially in the realm of multimedia formats.

The use of a proprietary standard divides a distribution network into those people or systems able to use the standard, and those people or systems unable to use the standard. For example, a document created using DXF for Autocad may not display properly in Cadkey, which uses CADL, or ACIS, which uses SAT. Another example is XrML, a digital rights management language developed by ContentGuard. Developers have been reluctant to use the standard because of Microsoft’s control over the standard. (DRM Watch, 2002)

Proprietary standards pose numerous risks to developers. One risk is that the standard will cease to be supported in new software. Documents encoded in older MS Word formats, for example, need to be converted before they can be used. There is the risk that licensing terms may change, and as a consequence, require that user pay unexpected licensing fees. If the standard is not widely shared or distributed, as is the case, for example, with Microsoft Windows, it is difficult to develop new applications, and the holder of the standard enjoys an advantage over competing products. Additionally, the choice of viewing software may be limited. Because of these risks, it is difficult to encourage wide adoption of proprietary standards.
Several of the systems listed in the previous section depend in whole or in part on proprietary standards. Course packs designed for Web CT, for example, cannot easily be used in competing learning management systems. It is necessary to use a content migration utility (some versions of which are no longer supported) to obtain interoperability. http://www.webct.com/IMS

Overly Strict Standards

Even when a standard is non-proprietary, it may be the case that the standard is too limiting for widespread use. If, for example, a standard requires that only a limited type of data will be transported by a data transmission system, then novel applications using different types of data will be impossible to develop.

Much of the criticism around the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) was focused on this sort of objection. SCORM was developed to support self-study modules designed for use by the U.S. Military. Learning objects defined using SCORM are mutually independent, meaning that only the most basic sort of sequencing is enabled. This has led critics to suggest that SCORM is not flexible enough to allow for a variety of pedagogies. (Welsch, 2002)
In a similar manner, transport protocols may also be too strict. Just as, for example, a road is much less strict (and therefore much more widely used) than a railroad, so also a distribution network that delivers only learning objects (and not, say, journal articles) is less likely to be used than a network that delivers both.
Some of the systems described in the previous section adhere to standards that are too strict. Any system requiring SCORM compliance, for example, will be viewed in this way. So also will repositories that list learning objects only, such as Merlot.
Standards may be unreasonably strict in other ways. The GNU General Public License (GPL), for example, requires that any product developed using GPL software must also be GPL. Since the GPL is intended “to make sure the software is free,” all modifications of GPL software must also be free. (GPL. 1991) While the purpose of this condition is to ensure that developers cannot convert a GPL application into a proprietary application, the interpretation is that GPL prohibits the development of any proprietary applications within a given application environment. (Microsoft, 2002)
Another issue related to the strictness of standards in the complexity of the standard in question. If the standard is too complex, use of the standard requires an involved process or development tool. Legacy content, which might have met a laxer standard, must be converted to the new standard. XrML has been criticized because of its complexity (DRM Watch, 2002) as has SCORM (Welsch, 2002).

Monolithic Solutions

Under the name of “enterprise solutions,” learning content management systems have become tightly integrated monolithic software bundles. Such integration is even touted as a benefit by many software companies. Saba Software, for example, promises to “replaces today’s ad hoc processes and disparate systems with a single system and a unified view of everything your organization needs…” (Saba Software, 2002)

Purchasers of such systems are as a consequence committed to a single solution for all aspects of learning management. If, for example, you don’t like the discussion board or quiz generation tool in WebCT, perhaps finding it too complicated to manage (Shelangoske, 2002), there are no alternatives; third-party products cannot be simply ‘plugged-in’ to replace the WebCT default installation.
The purchase of such a system additionally requires paying for much more than may be desired. Because an essential component of learning content management systems is a database of learning objects (Nichani, 2001) a purchaser is committed to buying hardware and software support (for example, a database system such as Oracle) that may be well beyond their needs. In a tightly integrated system there is no means to deploy third-party or hosted services to manage part or all of the database; it must be located in-house.

Closed Marketplace

A closed marketplace exists when an owner of a learning content management system has only a limited selection of content to choose from. This limitation occurs when the LCMS vendor reaches an exclusive agreement with a content publisher to distribute materials. Such agreements formed the bulk of press announcements through 2001 and 2002.

One of the major distributors establishing priority in learning management systems, XanEdu has reached distribution agreements with a number of vendors, including Blackboard, Fathom, Microsoft, America Online, and Gallileus.

Such agreements make it more difficult for purchasers of competing systems to obtain access to XanEdu’s exclusive library. In such cases, each student must obtain a separate ZanEdu account, providing credit information and paying XanEdu directly. Similar restrictions prohibit direct access to a wide variety of published content produced by other vendors.

And such agreements make it more difficult for content publishers to sell to users. Unless affiliated with a publisher (and consequently willing to accept publishers’ terms and conditions), content providers are unable to make their material available for selection by LCMS users. Because LCMS content selections are offered as a bundle, often from LCMS vendors, content providers not selected to become part of this bundle are excluded from selection.
The consequence of such a Byzantine marketplace is that established publishers with large content libraries are favoured. Because of the overhead involved, and because established publishers are wary of the competition, free content is discouraged and generally unavailable. This has the consequence of increased prices for content consumers.
The combination of monolithic systems and closed marketplaces tends to favour large educational institutions over smaller colleges and independent study. If it is necessary to purchase a large LCMS and pay premium prices for educational content, a smaller institution with fewer students cannot compete with institutions with enough students to distribute the cost. Independent study in such an environment is increasingly difficult, with most choices for potential students difficult to find or simply unavailable.

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