Learning objects: an interactive representation and a mediating tool in a learning activity

In spite of all the attention that the concept of learning objects has received in the education community, it remains poorly defined. This paper attempts to explore what may be a learning object other than some computer file catalogued in a digital library for reuse. Any debate about what a learning object may be is premature without a general understanding of the learning activities in which it is to be used. There is the possibility for a learning object to be conceptualized as an interactive visual representation which can be used as a mediating tool in a learning activity. The use of learning objects potentially leaves a cognitive residue in the form of an internal psychological tool which might add to the overall intellectual capacity of the learner. This paper opens a number of important issues for further research into the design and utility of learning objects as interactive visual representations and mediating tools in learning activities.