Openness and Analytics: The Future of Learning Objects

David Wiley, PhDInstructional Psychology & Technology

Brigham Young University

“Curricular units can be made smaller and combined, like standardized Meccano parts, into a great variety of particular programscustom-made for each learner.” Gerard (1969)

Wayne Hodgins (1994)

“Learning Objects”

“Learning objects are like Legos”

Wayne Hodgins

The Big Question

We must all ask ourselves…

Why???

They’re cool!

To help students learn better!

To save money!

That’s what funders want!

The Answer

Changes our work significantly

My Own Answer

Let me tell you a few stories…

Once upon a time (1996)

There was a JS calculator

Something Had Changed

Something deeply important…

Expertise Is Nonrivalrous

Can be given without being given away

“He who receives ideas from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine receives light without darkening me.”

Thomas Jefferson

External Expressions Aren’t

To give a book you must give it away

Digital Expressions Are Magical

They are nonrivalrous expressions

E.g., Online Book

We can all read simultaneously

An Indescribable Advance

The first time in human history

Expertise and Its Expressions

Give without giving away

Unprecedented Capacity

The Two Paths

The First Path

Create once, thensell infinite perfect copies at $0 cost!

The Second Path

Create once, thengive away infinite perfect copies at $0 cost!

My Initial Interest Was Financial

Learning objects could give us Increased affordability and access

40 / 15 years

Several years have passed,and where are we?

Approx 300 journal articles

Literature reviewhttp://www.citeulike.org/user/opencontent

Conclusion?

This research is a mess

Computer Science “Invasion”

Educator “Evacuation”

Research Effort on Learning Objects

Computer ScienceEducation

Technical Standards Soup

IMS, SCORM, IEEE, LOM, DC, ARIADNE, Etc.

Ontology Proliferation

Multiple definitions and approaches to design and function

“If only everyone would do it my way...”

Has a certain arrogance

What if, instead…

We asked what everyone does?

Repositories

Google

IEEE LOM

Tagging

OAI-PMH

RSS / Atom

IMS-CP / SCORM

HTML / Zip / etc.

Ontologies

Folksonomies

LMSs

Wikis / Blogs / Social Networks

Learning Objects

Resources

What’s different?

Complex

Simple

Little use

Massive use

“Simple Wins”

We can spend our energy

Trying to change behavior

Trying to leverage behavior

The Terrible Questions

With apologies

What is a learning object?

“Any digital resource that can be reused to facilitate learning” Wiley (2000)

Four components

“Resource”

“Digital”

“Learning”

“Reuse”

Lots of (1) digital (2) resources for (3) learning

Very little (4) reuse

Why is reuse so hard?

Two reasons

First

Context suggests meaning

What is context?

Things next to each other

In space or time

http://www.quest-online.com/NewFiles/images/barak-obama.jpg

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/abraham-lincoln/pictures/abraham-lincoln-625.jpg

http://www.britannica.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/bin-laden.jpg

http://hunternuttall.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/tiger-woods.jpg

http://digitalheadbutt.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/michael-jordan.jpg

More things together=

More complex meaning

More complex meanings=

More “fit” problems

What big should a learning object be?

What does “size” mean?

Size

Amount of context inside the learning object

The Reusability Paradox

Easy to Reuse

TeachesEffectively

Big Learning Objects

o Teach wello Hard to reuse (don’t “fit”)o SO… o No one reuses them

Small Learning Objects

o Easy to reuse (fit anywhere!)o Don’t teach wello So… o No one reuses them

Second

Scope and Sequence

Instructional Design

Flic

kr

/ n

et_

efe

kt

What if you had this…

But needed this?

Or this?

Just Adapt It, Right?

Complete (c) Assumed

Ambient, Ubiquitous Copyright

Reuse => Exactly As is

When does “as is” suffice?

Not Very Often

We always want to tinker

Adaptability is Critical

But missing from our normal conception of learning objects

Copyright Permissions Are…

Too hard to getToo expensive to get

So We Give Up

Either we choose a different LO, orwe break the law, or

we do a poor job

Reuse is hard because:

(1) context, reusability paradox(2) copyright issues

What do we do?

Learning Objects + Open Source License

Open Educational Resources

What is an Open License?

Reuse - verbatim copies

Redistribute - share copies

Revise - make adaptations

Remix - combinations / mashups

Grants4 Rs Permissions

Creative Commons

Durable

Reusable

Interoperable

Accessible

Durable

Reusable

Interoperable

Accessible

Revisable

Remixable

Redistributable

LO OER

RAID RAID

4Rs

OER = Learning Objects 2.0

OER

o “Big” objects that teach wello Legal to revise / adapto So… o We can reuse them

OER Changes Assumptions

For example, we can keep OER organized in courses (in context)

(Not context-free repositories)

Is “Open” Financial?

Some thoughts about OER and improving learning

Legally Open vs Technically Open

Can OER be adpated?

Access to editing tools?Level of expertise required?Meaningfully editable?Self-sourced?

ALMS Analysis Framework

Access to Editing Tools?

Are editing tools practically available (platform / cost?)

Access to Editing Tools?

Example: html files

Non: MS OneNote files

Level of Expertise?

Can a file be adapted with little / no training?

Level of Expertise?

Example: Word or odt files

Non: 3d models, flash quizzes

Meaningfully Editable?

Can the content of the file even be changed?

Meaningfully Editable?

Example: Word or html file

Non: Scanned pdf of notes

Self-Sourced?

Is the file preferred for editing

also the file preferred for using?

Self-Sourced?

Example: html file

Non: Flash fla / swf files

Open... but not

Less Expensive

- Reuse - verbatim- Redistribute - share

- Revise - derivatives- Remix - combinations

More Expensive

- Reuse - verbatim- Redistribute - share

- Revise - derivatives- Remix - combinations

How Can Open Improve Learning?

An example

http://openhighschool.org/

Bloom’s 2 Sigma Challenge

Bloom, 1984

One-to-One Tutoring

And other methods compared to 30 students in the classroom

Average Tutored Student by 2 SD

In other words, the average student is capable of much more

Tutoring is Expensive

So we teach class instead!

Bloom, 1984

If the research on the 2 sigma problem yields practiced methods (methods that the average teacher or school faculty can learn in a brief period of time and use with little more cost or time than conventional instruction), it would be an educational contribution of the greatest magnitude. (p. 5)

To Tutor Or Not to Tutor?

That is the (false) question

“Strategic Tutoring”

What if we could do one-on-one tutoring just-in-time and just-on-topic?

Requires Great Insight

We’d have to know who needs help, when, and what they need help with

Data Are the Key

You’d need live, fine-grained data about students, assessment, and curriculum

Good Data Are Expensive!

Who gathers and analyzes data like this?

Each and Every Interaction

Recorded and stored for analysisto improve quality of service /

experience

Even the Grocer!

Almost every industry uses data more effectively than education

How Can We Get the Data?

One option is to follow Google, Amazon, Netflix, WoW, etc.

Do School Online

Where each and every interaction can be captured and stored for

analysis

What Kind of Data?

When they logged in, read, and workedHow long they logged in, read, and worked

Pathway information, Item-by-item analytics&c.

OHSU Teaching Model

OER teach as much as possible,teachers do proactive “strategic tutoring”

Another Benefit of Data

Engage in continuous improvement of curriculum materials

Can You Improve Curriculum?

Data aren’t sufficient – you need permission

OHSU Charter Requires OER

Founders’ way of “burning the ships”

Conjoint Continuous Improvement

Student learning and curriculum effectivenessgrow simultaneously

Curriculum Use

Curriculum Redesign

StudentPerformance

Data

Data Describing Curriculum

Performance

Data Supporting

Strategic Tutoring

FeedbackLoop

Visualizing Educational Data

Creating new visualization techniques to support teaching and learning

Some Conclusions

Finally!

Difficulties with Learning Objects

LOs have yet to fulfill their potential, because of copyright and technical

problems

Open Licenses Solve Problems

When “reuse” can also mean “revise” and “remix,” LOs can more

fully realize their potential

OER = Learning Objects 2.0

When “reuse” can also mean “revise” and “remix,” LOs can realize

their potential

OER => Google Searchability

Google, Bing, and others support specialized OER search

OER = Lower Cost

Freely available

OER => Increased Learning

Continuous quality improvement

Thank You

david.wiley@byu.eduhttp://davidwiley.org/

http://slideshare.net/opencontent/

Utah Open Textbooks Project

Replacing expensive textbooks with remixed OER textbooks from

CK12.orgFunded by the Hewlett Foundation

2010-2011

1800 students in Earth Systems, Biology, and Chemistry

Traditional Context

$100 textbooks replacedevery 7 years

< $7 per book

And remixed specifically to students’ needs

Textbook as Consumable

Students can highlight, annotate,and keep their textbooks

At Least 50% Cost Savings

We believe levels of learning will be constant or improve slightly

Huge Policy Implications

If we can increase learning and decrease costs, then what?