Solving reusability problems of online learning materials

Observes that the widespread use of the World Wide Web for educational purposes creates many opportunities for reusing learning material. However, many factors are involved that may decrease the amount of actual reuse that occurs. Presents a theoretical model of these factors, one of which is the physical layout of learning objects. Approaches this problem by separating the layout of learning objects from their content. This is achieved by describing the content in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and the layout in the eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). The architecture of a prototype is presented showing how this technology can be used in an online learning environment.