Learning Object Repositories

Learning Objects have become a Big Thing nationally and internationally, such that it wouldn't be out of place to talk of a Learning Object 'movement' in sectors as diverse as higher education institutions, commercial corporations, national governments, and even the military. Although the 'movement' is still in its childhood, RLO repositories - searchable RLO databases - are coming into being both here and worldwide. This section will try to list some of the more useful repositories for School staff and students.

Health Education Digital Assets (HEAL)

http://www.healcentral.org/

HEAL is a "digital library" of assets (images, learning objects, presentations, videos, etc) for "health science educators and learners" in a range of fields in health science, including medicine, nursing, and pathology. You can browse HEAL by subject or by collection, carry out detailed searches, then download required resources. HEAL assets are freely available for use under the Creative Commons licence. HEAL is a contributory library, so you can join (for free) and contribute your own work to the collection. Quality control is assured by a process of peer-review.

MERLOT

http://www.merlot.org/

MERLOT is a large, high-quality repository of learning materials for teachers and students in higher education worldwide. Resource types include tutorials, animations, and simulations, as well as books and websites. Each resource is peer-reviewed to ensure that it's of sufficient quality for inclusion. Resources are sorted by categories and sub-categories, with the categories probably of most interest to School staff being Health Science and Biology.

Wisconsin Online Resource Center

http://www.wisc-online.com/

A large, searchable repository of learning objects in wide range of subjects, all implemented in Flash (as is much of the website). Of particular interest to School of Nursing members will be the section on Health but there are also some potentially useful LOs in the General Education section under:

You have to register to use the site, but this is free, and you can deep-link to objects within the site.