When developing an online course you may develop your own resources or make use of some of the pre-existing course materials that are available on the Web. Pre-existing course materials are described as learning objects when they are made available in electronic form for reuse. They are described using metadata standards that indicate the subject area, level, and the nature of the resource. This enables cataloguing and searching.
Using pre-existing material has obvious implications for saving development cost and academic staff time. If pre-existing material is suitable or adaptable to support the learning activities, this can enable rapid development of online courseware.
UNSW has a project to develop a Learning Resources Catalogue (LRC) that facilitates searching for existing course materials. It also enables the formation of project groups with online discussions and facitilies to store files, learning objects and links. By using the LRC you can conduct federated searches. This means that a search of several databases of learning resources can be conducted simultaneously.
Some sources of pre-existing online course materials are:
MERLOT: MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. Links to online learning materials are collected here along with annotations such as peer reviews and assignments.
ExploreScience.com: This site has a range of online activities and support materials to explain scientific concepts.
LRC: The U21 Learning Resource Catalogue is a UNSW initiative to share learning resources among the U21 community. Adding your resources to this catalogue can make them available to other academic staff also.
RESL: The Re-usable Educational Software Library developed by the UK Open University.
SeSDL "The Scottish electronic Staff Development Library is a digital repository created for a specific community - staff development teams in Scottish universities. It was one of the first digital repositories to adopt IMS interoperability specifications. Anyone can contribute an object that they believe would help university staff training" (Littlejohn, 2003, p. 143)
ALA: American Library Association - an Internet Resources Index by topic.
CAREO Campus Alberta Repository of Educational Objects is another free and open resource that contains a continuously growing number of learning objects appropriate for settings in higher education. CAREO has been designed as a research prototype to provide quality online learning resources for educators in Alberta. Membership is free.
Littlejohn, A. (Ed.). (2003). Reusing Online Resources. London and Sterling, VA: Kogan Page.