EMM v2.3 D7

'''D7. E-learning resources are designed and managed to maximise reuse'''

Background
It is argued that a major economic and efficiency advantage of e-learning is its potential for sharing and reusing learning materials (Jochems et al., 2004; Weller, 2004; Wiley, 2000; Usoro and Abid 2008). The reuse and sharing of learning materials relies on the ability to store and retrieve them effectively. To achieve this, the material’s description – metadata – and packaging must be accurately documented and standardised for an institution (Bianco et al. 2004; Wright et al. 2009). Beyond this, staff need to be enabled and encouraged to reuse e-learning resources and be provided with training, opportunities and incentives to create reusable resources themselves. Intellectual property aspects of resource creation and use should be addressed explicitly at a policy and employment level and all staff involved in the design, (re)development and delivery of courses must be trained and supported in understanding the implications of intellectual property in their work. Bates (2007) recommends that an explicit plan be developed for how the institution proposes content management in order to ensure all of these factors are efficiently addressed, as well as to facilitate discovery of resources for reuse.

The lack of any substantive evidence of successful use of Learning Objects and reuse systems in the institutions assessed internationally by the eMM suggests that formalised reuse may be an unobtainable utopia. More plausible may be reuse facilitated through the of open licences. Clearly, there is a relationship between Open Educational Resources and reuse, it remains to be be seen whether increased attention focusing on open licensing will translate into increased reuse (Lane and McAndrew 2010).

Evidence of capability in this process is seen through the creation and use of metadata standards and templates along with repositories for storing and accessing course resources for reuse. Teaching staff should be provided with training and support in the creation and reuse of resources as well as incentives to both create reusable resources in the first place as well as enable reuse. Intellectual property aspects of resource creation and use should be addressed explicitly at a policy and employment level and all staff involved in the design, (re)development and delivery of courses must be trained and supported in understanding the implications of intellectual property in their work. Ongoing design and development of the physical e-learning infrastructure should be done with an awareness of reuse as well as an appreciation of the rapid pace of change and development in this area.

Related Guidelines and Standards
This process is informed by: Australian National Training Authority, quality assurance information kit: Training package support materials (2002).