Reusability of telematics course material within a european network : the candle project

Reusability and standardization are issues that currently require a high level of attention in both journals and conferences in science of education (Wiley, 2002; Strijker, 2000). This is not only because of a need for higher efficiency but also a raise in quality is expected when course material and methods are used not only by the people who invent them but also by others being either in the office next door or at the other end of the world. Reusability in the context of this paper is perceived as the degree to which learning material can be used by third parties independent of the original author. Standardization in the context of this paper is seen as the supporting a method to exchange information to make learning material more accessible for a larger audience. Reusability has to deal with a number of problems. These are not only technical problems such as differences in infrastructures but also cultural differences (languages, learning styles) and organizational differences (credits, curriculum differences) do cause problems in reusing learning material (Downes, 2000). In a majority of cases compromises must be made to achieve an acceptable level of exchange of learning material. To maintain a level of order among a large set of reusable learning objects standardization is needed in characteristics to find the learning objects you are looking for. To achieve this goal learning objects are attached to metadata. Metadata describe learning objects on criteria defined to be important for using the objects in a learning network.