Reusable learning objects (RLOs) are defined as any digital objects that can be used to fulfil specific learning objectives for a course or in a classroom scenario. The reusable aspects mean that they are considered generic and useful enough that they can be used in multiple fields of study and multiple different courses. RLOs are used for one specific topic in a course. An RLO could be a Youtube clip, Audio file, Video, Powerpoint Slide or Movie Clip. They are based on the idea of education as a common good.
RLOs are widely available and usually hold a Creative Commons license which means that they can be used in any teaching context without issue. (See below for more information on Creative Commons licensing). You can either find RLOs online or create and share them through Creative Commons. This guide is intended to help you both find and create RLOs.
Some resources refer to OER's or Open Educational Resources which are educational resources that are given an open license. While RLOs are slightly different their core remains the same, educational materials that you reuse in order to improve your teaching that are inherently sharable in a variety of ways.
RLOs are made shareable by the use of Creative Commons licenses, these are essentially a way for creators of any form of creative work, including books, songs and in this case teaching materials, to state how exactly they want to allow their work to be shared. The licenses range from public domain where anyone can use it for whatever purpose without attribution to the original author up to the most restrictive where a work can only be used for non-commercial purposes and cannot be changed or adapted in any way and needs an attribution to the author.
RLOs can be really helpful, especially in a blended learning context because:
Reusable learning objects usually consist of what is called digital objects. A digital object is an item that has been created in an electronic format, for example, YouTube videos, digital word documents, and Flickr images.
They also usually have metadata attached, making them searchable either through internet browsers or computers. Metadata is data that is used to describe objects by title keywords etc. that makes objects searchable via Google for example.
They are usually editable so that you can change them to suit your teaching. They are usually interactive as well allowing you to do something to the object even if its just pressing play and pause.
Digital objects are distributable in that they are easy to both access and share through the web.
