Learning objects (LOs) are modular digital resources, uniquely identified and metatagged, that can be used to support learning or any digital resource that can be reused to support learning (Wiley, 2000) or any entity, digital or non-digital, that may be used for learning, education or training. Learning objects can be created by anyone: instructional designers, instructors, or learners. Attention should be paid to intellectual rights, using some system to designate scope of ownership and rights to reuse, such as Creative Commons.

Learner Applications: Practice, experiment, review material

Instructor Applications: Lecture, demonstrate, present information

Examples:

• Maricopa Learning eXchange - Maricopa Community College System has created a repository of instructor-generated learning objects that can be used by anyone.
• Diverse Continent - Map and presentation
  

Services:
Repositories

• Ariadne - A European Association open to the World, for Knowledge Sharing and Reuse.
• Connexions - A place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Anyone may view or contribute.
• Lola - An exchange for facilitating the sharing of high-quality learning objects. It contains materials for use across the curriculum, with a particular focus on modules for Information Literacy.
• Merlot - Find peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials. Share your own and be recognized!

Tools

• Course Lab - A free easy-to-use,e-learning authoring tool that offers programming-free WYSIWYG environment for creating high-quality interactive e-learning content which can be published on the Internet, Learning Management Systems (LMS), CD-ROMS and other devices.
• FlashCard Exchange - Flashcards are study tools. Think of a small 3×5 index card with a question on one side and an answer on the other side. This web site is an internet application where you can create, study, print and download flashcards.
• Hot Potatoes - A free (for public educators) downloadable software includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises.
• Lode Star Learning - eLearning authoring tool. Instructors choose from a wide variety of templates, fill in their content, and export to the web or to their online course.(cost)
• Squido - A free service that allows user to publish a topical "lens" on their area of expertise. A lens is one person's view on a topic that matters to her. It's an easy-to-build, single web page that can point to blogs, favorite links, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, Google maps, your eBay auctions, CafePress designs, Amazon books or music, and oh so much more. That way, when someone is looking for recommended information, fast, your lens gets him started and sends him off in the right direction.
• Timeline Tool - This free, downloadable software is a web based learning object template which allows an instructor to quickly construct an interactive timeline with audio and visual effects. See an overview of the tool here.
• utudo - This is a free course builder that is template driven and allows you to customize a course, or smaller unit of instruction such as a module or unit. It can be used for tutorials on topics that students in different courses may need to learn.

References:
Arvan, L. (2004). Digital learning objects: Inviting the student into the instructional process. Campus Technology. Available from http://campustechnology.com/articles/39693/.

Wiley, D. A. (2000). Connecting learning objects to instructional design theory: A definition, a metaphor, and a taxonomy. In D. A. Wiley (Ed.), The Instructional Use of Learning Objects: Online Version, http://reusability.org/read/chapters/wiley.doc