"Learning Object Systems as Constructivist Learning Environments: Related Assumptions, Theories and Applications", by Brenda Bannan-Ritland, Nada Dabbagh & Kate Murphy (2000) in _The Instructional Use of Learning Objects_ http://www.reusability.org/read/chapters/bannan-ritland.doc
Exploration of recent learning theories as applied to learning objects. Very helpful.

SUMMARY

The authors compare two existing Learning Content Management Systems (LCMSs) and point out the limitations of their rigidity. Instead, they advocate a much more flexible use of technology to put more power into the instructors' and especially the students' hands. They suggest that in addition to learning content objects, a good system should have flexible learning direction objects, which allow users varying degrees of control over the selection and order of learning objects. As the quotes above illustrate, the emphasis in this paper is on theoretical underpinnings of cognition and learning; the theories they espouse resonate very positively with me.

QUOTES

Learning environments based in a constructivist framework
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...are more process-oriented rather than content-oriented where learners "are required to
- examine thinking and learning processes;
- collect, record and analyze data;
- formulate and test hypotheses;
- reflect on previous understandings;
- and construct their own meaning"
in a variety of content areas (Crotty, 1994, p.31 from Bannan-Ritland, Dabbagh & Murphy 2000)

Learning processes that are related to constructing a knowledge base:
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- planning the goals, topics, and relationship among topics
- accessing, transforming and translating information into knowledge through developing new interpretations and perspectives
- evaluating the quality and quantity of the assembled content
- permitting feedback and revision of the knowledge base through reorganization and restructuring for more meaningful content
(Jonassen, Peck & Wilson 1999; from Bannan-Ritland, Dabbagh & Murphy 2000)

Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT)
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employs a number of instructional prescriptions to address advanced knowledge acquisition and transfer. These include:
- the use of multiple knowledge representations (e.g. multiple themes, analogies, case examples, lines of argument);
- explicitly linking and tailoring concepts to practice and case examples (i.e. situating conceptual knowledge in contexts that are similar to those required for the application of the knowledge);
- incrementally introducing complexity in small, cognitively manageable units;
- stressing the interrelatedness and web-like nature of knowledge (instead of isolated and compartmentalized knowledge); and
- encouraging the assembly of appropriate knowledge from various conceptual and case resources (rather than the intact retrieval of previously memorized information)
(Jacobson & Spiro, 1991, p.4; from Bannan-Ritland, Dabbagh & Murphy 2000).

The degree of reusability of a learning object
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[is connected to] to three attributes:
- fundamentality,
- discoverablity, and
- accessibility.
(Wiley et al., 1999; Quinn, 2000; from Bannan-Ritland, Dabbagh & Murphy 2000).