1,
First of all I would like to notify you the SLOOP Project – http://www.sloopproject.eu – where sloop is for Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective. (You can find a presentation on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLOOP_Project). The idea is to share free/open LO.
I’m the project coordinator.

2.
You can find the article “Developing on-line lessons” at the following address: http://81.208.57.22/pfr/English/publications/bite/bite.html
(Bite Conference, Ipswich, UK; December 2003)

3.
Another of my articles in English is “The “open sourceâ€? perspective in planning eLearning materials” at the ICETA 2004 (Kosice, Slovacchia, 16-17 settembre 2004)3rd International Conference on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies and Applications
Find it here: http://81.208.57.22/pfr/English/publications/Iceta_ravotto_paper.pdf

4.
“SLOOP: a European Project focused on the realization of a shared repository of free Learning Objects”by Mara Masseroni and me
has benn presented at the EXPO eLearning Ferrara (6-8 October 2005)
Address: http://www.sloopproject.eu/file.php/1/SloopDownload/Articles/SLOOP_ExpoFerrara_EN.pdf

5.
I would like to notify you another article that has been written by people of the CNR-ITD of Palermo, a partner organisation in SLOOP, responsable of the developing of the freeLOms (free Learning Object management system): “A collaborative ‘open Learning Objects’ management system” by Manuel Gentile, Davide Taibi, Mario Allegra, Giovanni Fulantelli, presented at WSEAS – ENGINEERING EDUCATION 2006 (EE’06)
Vouliagmeni Beach, Athens, Greece, July 11-13, 2006
Special Session: Methods and Tools for Managing Learning Objects.
You can find it at the address: http://www.sloopproject.eu/file.php/1/SloopDownload/Articles/Intervento_Gentile_in _Grecia.pdf

6.
Last but not least. We are producing now the booklet with the results of the project. It will be ready in September. Let me have your address and I’ll send you a copy.

All the best

Pierfranco

There are two areas of our work that relate to Learning Objects that may be of use:

(1) COLIS (Collaborative Online Learning and Information Service) Project

COLIS was an Australian Government (DEST) funded project to investigate a range of issues around integrating LMS, Library systems, Learning Object Repositories, Digital Rights and Portals. The project ran over two stages from 2001-2005, and involved a wider range of university and commercial partners.

My early COLIS project work discussed Learning Objects, including a narrow LO definition, and comparisons of Learning Objects to Digital Assets and Learning Activities (including a “layered” view of LOs and related entitirs). For the original article, see http://www.melcoe.mq.edu.au/documents/ASCILITEDalziel.rev.doc

Later, we published an edited book on the COLIS project – many of the chapters touch on Learning Object issues. For a PDF of the whole book, see http://www.colis.mq.edu.au/COLIS_CD/content_book/COLIS_V02_050830_CD.pdf

The COLIS book came with a CD-ROM of everything to do with COLIS over the life of the project (presentations, reports, chapters, etc). You can find this at http://www.colis.mq.edu.au/COLIS_CD/index.html

(2) Learning Design and LAMS (Learning Activity Management System)

Partly as a result of the lessons learned from the COLIS Project, we began work on a Learning Design system called LAMS. The main focus of LAMS is sequences of collaborative learning activities, but these can also include content objects. Under your (Wiley’s) definition of a Learning Object, LAMS sequences are Learning Objects.

The original article about LAMS is at http://www.lamsfoundation.org/CD/html/resources/whitepapers/ASCILITE2003 Dalzie Final.pdf

A followup, more detailed article on LAMS is at http://www.lamsfoundation.org/CD/html/resources/whitepapers/Dalziel.LAMS.doc

For a comprehensive list of resources (presentations, videos, case studies, etc) on LAMS, see http://www.lamsfoundation.org/CD/html/resources.html (for up to mid 2005), and then for more recent resources, see the Research and Development section of the LAMS Community – http://lamscommunity.org/dotlrn/clubs/educationalcommunity/lamsresearchdevelopment/forums/forum-view?forum_id=10480

The LAMS Community is a global community website where LAMS users talk about their use of LAMS, and share LAMS sequences through an online repository. As at May 2006 (8 months after launch) it has about 1200 users sharing over 80 sequences.

For further information about COLIS or LAMS, please email me at james@melcoe.mq.edu.au

You might also be interested in the work that some of our friends are doing on bibsonomy: http://www.bibsonomy.org/tag/prolearn.

I’m very interested in your results and how you will share them (as “something cool”) – my gut feeling is that we are not very well organized as a research community and I think that a social network kind of analysis would demonstrate that… If this is true, then the next question is what we can do about it That is a question I am very much thinking about these days…

My guess is that BSI might enable you to review it, and I can ask for this if you want. Just let me know. (When David Jennings and I wrote the draft or the standard we made quite extensive use of work you’d done at that time on the subject of LOs.

http://www.bsi-global.com/ICT/Elearning/bs8426.xalter

Repository of (Learning Object) Dreams (Oct 2003)
http://cogdogblog.com/2003/10/02/repository-of/

My Left Big Toe is a Learning Object (Jan 2004)
http://cogdogblog.com/2004/01/23/my-left/

Learning Object Reuse Acknowledgment (an idea, an acronym, and not much more) (Feb 2004)
http://cogdogblog.com/2004/02/13/learning-object/

If All The Learning Objects Are Web Pages Who Needs a Repository? (Feb 2005)
http://cogdogblog.com/2005/02/22/if-all/

Other Presentations/Related Items

Ocotillo Learning Objects Action Group (2004-2006)
http://zircon.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/objects/

Learning Objects Dialogue Day with Brian Lamb: Learning objects, wikis, and other curious things (April 2005)
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/dd/objects05/

Decentralization of Learning Resources: Syndicating Learning Objects Using RSS, Trackback, and Related Technologies (Oct 2004) EDUCAUSE preconference Workshop
http://careo.elearning.ubc.ca/wiki?ObjectsEducause04

Mysteries Revealed! Inside the Maricopa Learning eXchange (Mar 2004) NMC Online Conference on Learning Objects
http://www.nmc.org/events/2004spring_online_conf/index.shtml

Learning Objects: Believe It or Not! (NLII Learning Objects Focus Session) Oct 2003
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/show/believe_it.html

Connecting Learning Objects with RSS, Weblogs, and Trackback (NMC Online Conference) Oct 2003
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/show/nmc1003/

BlogDigger Collection of Syndicated Learning Objects
http://groups.blogdigger.com/learningobjects

In Indire website where you can find articles dealing with issues of learning objects (Standars, repository, Indire model etc.)
http://www.indire.it/content/index.php?action=read&id=1301
(in Italian only

The Learning Federation, an initiative of the Australian and New Zealand governments, produces significant quantities of learning objects for students in the beginning to grade 10 years of schooling. Full details of the content published to date can be viewed at http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au. Several research reports relating to implementation of learning objects in ANZ schools are also available:
http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/tlf2/showMe.asp?nodeID=891

http://karynromeis.blogspot.com/2006/04/learning-objects-or-not.html to which Mark Berthelemy responded regarding a confusion on my part between learning objects and learning objectives. This post also contains a link to one from Rob Reynolds from Explanazine.