Exchanging e-learning materials, modules and students

In contrast to other Web-based resources, e-learning materials are not always exchangeable and shareable. Although transferring electronic documents between networked computers has become almost effortless, the materials may often require careful design and a great deal of adaptation before they can be reused in a meaningful manner. This process involves consideration of pedagogic issues such as course curricula, learning outcomes, and intended audience, as well as technological factors including local institutional virtual learning environments (VLE) and any relevant learning technology standards. This chapter illustrates how these issues have been addressed resulting in the successful exchange of e-learning resources at three levels: (1) at content level, where learning nuggets are created and packaged in a standards-compliant format to guarantee interoperability; (2) at the user level, whereby learners or tutors, rather than the resources, are transferred between VLEs; (3) at a higher system level, where the emerging Web Single Sign-On technology of federated access management is being used to enable truly cross-institutional authentication allowing learners to roam freely in different learning environments.