Regular readers of Auricle may have noticed our ongoing interest in the Maricopa Learning Exchange (MLX), and in the learning 'packages' that are housed within it. Here we provide an overview of the MLX, and indicate why we feel this initiative merits further attention from everyone involved in all levels of education. Based upon open source technology, the MLX is a sophisticated repository that enables Maricopa faculty to upload learning objects into a database which can then be searched and syndicated in a number of ways, and whilst there may be a huge amount going on just under the surface, Maricopa faculty are protected from this by a series of simple to understand web forms.
Each learning object (or 'package' as it is referred to in the MLX) is subject to a Creative Commons licence that allows others to reuse and adapt the material (for non-commercial use) in a number of ways, as long as the original author is credited accordingly. This open approach to resource creation is often quite different to many of our own experiences, but is nevertheless a direction which we could all ultimately benefit from.
Many in today's e-learning arena have found it difficult to reach a consensus on the nature of a learning object; what constitutes a learning object, what level of granularity is desirable, how do we wrap context around an object that is, by design, context free, and so on. Maricopa on the other hand seems to have made the decision that ANYTHING can be a learning object, and consequently their packages can include anything from an idea for an activity to a piece of software, whilst the context is wrapped around the object in the form of a 'packaging slip' that is constructed by the faculty member uploading the resource to the repository.
Key to the MLX is the team who continue to drive the initiative forward, and much credit goes to them for their hard work. Undoubtedly, one of the challenges in driving an initiative of this kind is in maintaining the level of contributions, but through a series of competitions and with a current total of 913 packages in the repository, the MLX team appear to have addressed this issue.
