Transforming existing content into reusable learning objects

Although the debate on learning objects (LOs), their characteristics and (re)use in a LO economy is lively and relevant, so far little attention has been paid to the consequences of this shift towards object-oriented design and a LO economy for (the reuse of) existing course materials. Many institutions have developed a lot of material throughout the years and also see the economic and educational merits of (re)usable LOs. A process of decomposing existing (‘non-object-oriented’) learning material into smaller reusable objects is likely to take place (Downes, 2002; Wiley, 2000), but what will that process look like?