As I read the information on the learning object model, it does seem to share many similar characteristic with the object orientated (OO) software design methodology. The OO design methodology is currently used heavily in the computer software design field. Creating small reusable objects / components are the key to any good OO program. When an object become too large, than its reuse is limited. The black box approach to object design is critical to good OO objects. When you write a program in C++ there is an object library with thousands of defined objects that you can use to develop what ever program you want. The nice thing about object library's, is designers do not have to reinvent the wheel every time a new program is needed. With that in mind, I think the OO idea can be applied to web based instructional design. The challenge is that most C++ objects return some type of data value. The idea of passing instruction content out of learning object will be a little more challenging. I can see this approach requiring highly skilled instructional content design developers, to create reusable instructional content objects.
I feel designing learning objects will be quite complex in their design and thus would take lots of time to build correctly. This approach is well past the proficiency of the average teacher. Creating the learning objects is only half the challenge. How the objects are integrated in a web-based instructional program, will be the true challenging.
You bring up some good points. I did want to clarify, though, that Learning Objects aren't part of a Learning Objects Model, but are merely tools/objects that would be embedding in a given model.
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I agree with you that classroom instructors would not necessarily develop learning objects but rather use them, and therefore also inform the design of better objects. You also make a good point about how C++ objects return some data value vs. how this would apply in instructional context - there is a lot more fuzziness there, and I think scoping the learning object to maximize both quality and re-usability, remains a significant challenge.
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