LO -> LA: From a Learning Object centric view towards a Learning Activity perspective

Somewhere in 2005, this article will appear in a special issue of JTICL (Journal of Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning), edited by David Wiley, and devoted to the topic of "Learning Objects and Pedagogy."This article argues why we must focus on the learning in e-learning. We hold a plea to rethink the current learning object centric paradigm in e-learning technology towards a more learning activity centric perspective on e-learning. After examining current needs in educational practice and the state-of-art in learning technology, we discuss the extent to which available specifications and LMS cater for these needs. We conclude that learning technology should be enhanced with a specification able to capture a larger and more innovative variety of new pedagogical approaches to learning. As a solution to this problem, we propose that the IMS Learning Design specification offers a more generic pedagogical framework to also enable more activity-based and collaborative learning designs for a large variety of approaches and domains