It was in 2004 when I was introduced to the Reusable Learning Object methodology. Our training manager was awesome — he was business savvy, empowered us to do what we needed to do, BUT he didn't have a learning development background.
One day, he confidently instructed us that we now must design our training using the Reusable Learning Object approach. He gave a few more words of explanation and then let us ‘sort out the details’. My lasting memory of that time was one of our Senior Instructional Designers (whose courses were some of the best I’ve ever taught) scoffing at this approach, explaining how it just wasn’t possible, and neither practical... Needless to say, we never did it.
Fast forward to the present day: all the training myself and my team now develop is based on our Reusable Learning Object Methodology — or RLO — and yes, I truly believe that my old training manager was right!
A Reusable Learning Object is a digital self-contained and reusable entity:
Well, multiple RLOs can be combined together using various tools, to create an effective learning course. The outcome learning course is often managed through a learning management system (LMS).
Depending on how the management of the learning content is evolving, the RLO methodology becomes more and more applicable, serving up bite-sized learning chunks.
There are many advantages to using reusable learning objects when developing your effective training program. For example:
Me and my team at Learning Specialists can’t take credit for the Reusable Learning Object concept. In fact, Cisco created a White Paper back in 2003 that explains it thoroughly.
What we did do though is evolve our RLO Methodology based on our own experience, and continue to improve how we implement it.
Whether my old training manager read this White Paper or knew it existed, I will never know — but he was the first manager who had the conviction to tell us his opinions, point us in a direction while allowing us the freedom to still follow our own path.