Educational Repositories

Ten years from now, educational repositories will form a global hub that will connect learning objects, Learning Management Systems, and Learning Content Management Systems. The mission of educational repositories will be to personalize educational content and delivery. Personalized content will include embedded learning objects for wearable technologies, pervasive learning using new-wave broadband technologies, virtual learning environments, home schooling, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems as part of the Smart School concept. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005)

Potentially, the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) will take on new meaning to ensure that learning object content and Learning Management Systems (LMS) are interoperable. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) This means that re-usable learning objects can be used across LMS irrespective of the platforms they were developed on.

Potentially, education can begin at birth with embedded learning objects. Cradle mobiles or other Intelligent toys can have embedded objects which capture and record the learning preferences of the child as the child plays. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) Embedded objects create learning profiles of the child so teachers and parents can personalize and enhance the learning experience of the child early in life. This type of tracking positions the child into specific skill groups early in life. These profiles can emerge in educational repositories as lifelong learning profiles and tagged as metadata of childhood preferences that can be matched to local or global peer-to-peer features, as well as career and occupational potential. If there are problems, they may be correctable or accommodated before entering the public school systems. After entering public school systems, body area networks may also be part of educational repository holdings.

Potentially, body area networks can allow people to wear nano-engineered smart fabrics or carry implanted chips that aid in the exchange, collection and communication of information. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) Students can collect information from peers, teachers, and other learning sources on the fly. Information collected is automatically mapped to the learning objectives of the skills group that he/she belongs to. This emphasizes collective learning that share experiences and inferences. This environment guides the learning process, querying the student, and prodding them into the right direction. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) Teachers become virtual mentors in the learning process with a presence in educational repositories.

As virtual mentors, teachers can be accessed anytime through the educational repository. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) Mentors monitor the online activities of their students to offer advice, and suggest actions and feedback. As virtual mentors, teachers continuously map performance goals with student activity, to offer real-time course corrections and replace evaluation through periodic formative tests.

Educational repositories permit pervasive learning to shift from school as the centre of teaching and learning to the home. As a result, self-paced learning, continuous learning, and life-long learning will become distinct possibilities in the home environment. The Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-Max) would bring e-learning to remote places to help the rural poor access rich multimedia content over metropolitan area networks. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) Tele-immersion would allow a three-dimensional virtual image of the teacher to be projected into a student’s home while the teacher and the student meet and interact online in real time, verbally or textually. Educational repositories can document tele-immersion profiles for future reference and learning object content.

Educational repositories can also include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems. RFID systems track, monitor, and manage student attendance, for example. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) RFID tags are microchips with tiny antennas that broadcast a specific ID to the reader unit connected with a database to track down relevant data and update information accordingly. RFID chips track students to ensure their safety during school hours. It is a student management system device that can track disciplinary records, library loans, punctuality in attending classes, loans of other school assets, and visits to nursing stations and cafeterias. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) The educational repository can house information from Radio Frequency Identification Systems. There may be a greater need for confidentiality for these types of social records. Administrative duties are decreased so that knowledge-based activities can be maximized.

Socially, embedded learning objects have the potential to change education for the local community where everyone has free and equal access to education materials housed in the educational repository. Students, teachers, and community members will be able to customize learning objects to scale them down for use in mobile handheld devices for anytime, anywhere learning and real-time sharing of information. (Multimedia Development Corporation, 2005) Embedded learning objects can instruct the user how to build a car, assemble a household electrical circuit, or construct a building. Embedded learning objects will help create learning environments never before envisioned in the community domain. Where the school day can be extended to instruct users how to build a car or home, for instance, whole family groups can come together in the learning and sharing environment to build and produce something that is of mobility and stability value to each family member. Educational repositories with embedded learning objects can make learning a family and community matter.

Reference

Multimedia Development Corporation. (2005). The smart school roadmap 2005-2020: An educational odyssey. Retrieved May 3, 2009, from http://www.msc.com.my/smartschool/downloads/roadmap.pdf