DeL Online March 2006: speakers: Allison Littlejohn

Allison Littlejohn

Communities of exchange: issues in sharing digital learning resources for Design Education

Increasing availability of Learning Object Repositories offers a vision of a future in which reusable resources (or learning objects) could comprise a new currency of exchange within a learning economy. Learning objects, produced by publishers, teachers, support staff and students themselves, could be stored in digital repositories, where they could be easily accessed, recombined and reused within online courses. Despite this vision, the idea of sharing and reusing electronic resources has proved more complex than the object economy scenario may suggest. The literature points to cultural and social inhibitors to reuse (Campbell et al, 2001; Campbell, 2003) and some researchers have suggested the sharing of digital resources within communities as a potential solution (Littlejohn, 2003; Koper, 2004; Kester et al, in print).

A key factor lies in the relationship between repositories and communities: diverse types of communities will form around different collections of resources (Littlejohn, Nicol and Margaryan, 2005). The types of community using a repository might depend on the Learning Objects available, the context of use and the organisation of the repository. Other important considerations include the ways in which repositories are used by communities of teachers and learners to support learning (ALT-SURF, 2004; Nicol et al, 2005).

This presentation will identify issues inhibiting the development of a learning object economy within Design Education by analysing the relationships between repositories and communities. It will outline potential solutions to these problems identified by curators of a number of Learning Object Repositories learning object repositories and will examine possible future directions in the use of Learning Object Repositories to support learning processes in Design Education.

ALT-SURF (2004) ALT-SURF Report on Digital Repositories and ePortfolios. Available from www.alt.ac.uk

Campbell, L. M. (2003) Engaging with the learning object economy, in: A. Littlejohn (Ed.)

Reusing online resources: a sustainable approach to e-Learning (London, Kogan Page)

Campbell, L.M., Littlejohn, A.H. and Duncan, C, (2001) Share and share alike: Encouraging the re-use of academic resources through the Scottish electronic Staff Development Library, Association of Learning Technology Journal (ALT-J), Vol 9.2, pp28-38

Koper, R. Pannekeet, K., Hendriks, M. and Hummel, H. (2004) Building communities for the exchange of learning objects: theoretical foundations and requirements, Association for Learning Technology Journal (ALT-J), Vol. 12, No. 1, pp21-35 , March 2004

Kester, L., Sloep, P., Brouns, F., van Rosmalen, P., de Vries, F., de

Croock, M., and Koper, R. (in print) Ad hoc, transient communities in Learning Networks, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

Littlejohn, A.H. (2003) An incremental approach to staff development in the reuse of learning resources, in: A. Littlejohn (Ed.) Reusing online resources: a sustainable approach to e-Learning (London, Kogan Page)

Littlejohn, A.H., Nicol, D. and Margaryan, A. (2005) Community Dimensions of Learning Object Repositories, report to JISC

Nicol, D.J., Littlejohn, A. H. & Grierson, H. (2005). The importance of structuring information and resources within shared workspaces during collaborative design learning. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning

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Biography

Allison Littlejohn Allison Littlejohn is Chair of Learning Technology at the University of Dundee in Scotland. As Director of the International Centre for Research on Learning she is leading research in a number of areas including technology supported collaborative learning, learning communities and organisational change.

Current projects include 'Learning Activity Design in Education', 'Community Dimensions of Learning Object Repositories' (both funded by the UK government) and 'A Model for Flexible Learning' (funded by the Scottish Quality Assurance Agency).

For several years she has been an associate of the UK Higher Education Academy and leads the UK Forum on Supporting Sustainable eLearning.

In 2003 Allison edited a major international text on reusable LOs and repositories: Reusing Online Resources (Routledge www.reusing.info).

She is currently editing a new Routledge series entitled 'Designing for eLearning' due in 2006.

Allison Littlejohn
Chair of Learning Technology
International Centre for Research on Learning
University of Dundee
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1382 464000
Fax: +44 (0) 1382 464900
Email: a.littlejohn@dundee.ac.uk
Web: www.ic-learning.dundee.ac.uk

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