RLO's and Life-Long Learning: Reflection

Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs):

Having only been recently introduced to the concept of RLO's in the late Spring of 2006, I found Dan's presentation on RLO's quite thorough. I completely agree with his ideal definition for RLOs, as “any digital resource that can be used in the service of education or training that supports a learning objective.”

The concepts on the various items of metadata, LOMS, and Oncology were definitely new to me, but the explanations provided helped me understand Dan's presentation even with my lack of prior knowledge on these subjects.

Thinking of LMS as Knowledge Ecosystems was an intriguing concept, and one I hadn't thought of until this presentation. The contextual nature of this ecosystem might make certain items in an LMS harder to explain or justify, but I believe that its contextual nature also helps make it easier to understand the meaning behind items of discussion.

Life-Long Learning:

At first, I had simply assumed that all human beings were life-long learners, and I suppose even now at some esoteric level, this assumption isn't untrue. I found how Kathryn's definition of life-long learning to be much more concrete than my aforementioned notion, and appreciated how she broke down the notions of the Life-Long Learner into small ideas.

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) were something I had considered to have the most practical use to me those with special needs or other handicaps and disabilities. Clearly, this thought process of mine was rather narrow. The benefits behind PLEs seem to be bountiful, provided you follow three concepts that a PLE must:

1. Be user-centric
2. Be user-friendly
3. Assessment Ready (pre and post), modify if needed

I think we all could benefit as instructors, educational technologists, and learners if more PLE's were created for the various facets of learning we encounter every day.

Final Thoughts

After re-reading my notes, I began to wonder if my Podcasting Portal could possible be considered a combination of a RLO and a PLE. Or perhaps, if I added more content, and modified some existing content, it could become a hybrid of these two concepts. It goes without saying, these two presentations gave me a lot to think about, and were both of great benefit to me.

Thanks Dan and Kathryn!