Designing and integrating reusable learning objects for meaningful learning: Cases from a graduate programme

Abstract

E-learning quality depends on sound pedagogical integration between the content resources and lesson activities within an e-learning system. This study proposes that a meaningful learning with technology framework can be used to guide the design and integration of content resources with e-learning activities in ways that promote learning experiences, characterised by five dimensions: active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and collaborative. The pedagogical uses of these meaningful learning dimensions to support the design and integration of reusable learning objects as content resources will be explicated and exemplified through three cases related to the instruction of theories, principles, and professional skills respectively in a graduate programme. Design notes and surveys of students’ perception of learning experiences are used as data sources to understand how the five meaningful learning dimensions are being implemented by instructors and perceived by students. The strategies for supporting meaningful learning with reusable learning objects in higher education contexts are discussed.