Faculty use of a learning object repository in higher education
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/VJIKMS-05-2016-0024 |
| Pages | 469-478 |
| Published date | 14 November 2016 |
| Date | 14 November 2016 |
| Author | Hong Xu |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,Knowledge management systems |
Faculty use of a learning object
repository in higher education
Hong Xu
Division of Research, Commercialization and Outreach,
Texas A and M University, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study was to learn faculty’s usage behavior in learning object
repositories (LORs).
Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a case study. Research subjects were the faculty
users from an LOR: Wisconsin Online Resource Center. The study used a survey instrument to collect
data from 92 respondents, and data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and a Fisher exact test.
Findings – The study found four important channels by which the faculty learn about a LOR, six ways
in which the faculty often use a LOR and an important factor affecting the faculty visiting a LOR.
Research limitations/implications – Research subjects were from one LOR and non-probability
sampling was used; thus, the generalization of ndings may be limited.
Practical implications – This study implemented advancing of the service and design of LORs from
the perspectives of promotion, content development, connection to learning management systems and
technology assistant.
Social implications – The ndings and results may be applied in practice to draw more faculty users
toward learning object repository.
Originality/value – The results and ndings of the study contribute to understanding the faculty’s
needs for and usage patterns of using LORs, and provide foundations for designing strategies to
increase faculty use of LORs.
Keywords Higher education, Digital libraries, E-learning, Learning object repositories,
Learning objects, Open education
Paper type Case study
Introduction
The purpose of this case study is to learn faculty’s usage behavior in a learning object
repository (LOR): the Wisconsin Online Resource Center (Wisc-Online) (2016). The
ndings and results may be applied in practice to draw more faculty users to LORs. A
learning object (LO) is any born-digital or digitized entity that can be reused for
instruction and to support learning (Laverde et al., 2007;Wiley, 2000). It is created in or
for an instructional context, such as curriculum or instructional pedagogy (Roy, 2004).
Once it is built, an LO can be continually reused (Goldsmith, 2007). LOs support both
online and classroom education.
An LOR is a Web application, which provides services for educators and learners to
create, store, manage and share LOs [Australian National Training Authority (ANTA),
2003;Pouyioutas and Poveda, 2005]. An LOR contains not only LOs but also associated
metadata. An LOR can facilitate faculty reusing and sharing LOs, and it reduces the cost
and duplication effort in instructional content development (Henderson, 2008;Matkin,
2002;University System of Georgia, 2015). A full-function LOR also supports the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Learning
object
repository
469
Received 18 May 2016
Revised 2 September 2016
Accepted 13 September 2016
VINEJournal of Information and
KnowledgeManagement Systems
Vol.46 No. 4, 2016
pp.469-478
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2059-5891
DOI 10.1108/VJIKMS-05-2016-0024
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