Three Objections to Learning Objects
Norm Friesen,
Apr 14, 2003
This survey paper attempts to identify some of the major causes of discord in the learning object community. There is certainly plenty to choose from, but the author boils it down to three major issues. the first, familiar to anyone with access to a dictionary, is the problem of defining what a 'learning' object is supposed to be; this problem is only compounded by the fact that the definitions offered are almost completely meaningless to the people who are supposed to use them. A second, and deeper problem, centers around the idea that learning objects, in order to realize their potential, ought to be pedagogically neutral, but, as the author asserts, "specifications and applications that are truly pedagogically neutral cannot also be pedagogically relevant." The best (and most controversial) is saved for last: "Learning objects and e-learning standardization bear the imprint of the ideology and culture of the American military-industrial complex--of ways of thinking that are related either marginally or antithetically to the interests and values of education generally and public education in particular." In case you had any doubt about this assertion, the author hammers the point home with damning diagram depicting learning content begin shoved by a set of gears into the compliant brain of a "warfighter." We haven't had this discussion yet. But maybe it's time we started: just how badly is the military investment in the United States distorting talk about learning objects? Anmd what damage will this do to education in general?
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