[quoting Tripp, 21 May 99] It seems to me that this is where Dave Merrill's ideas about knowledge objects will help. If our knowledge objects consist (roughly) of flat pictures, applets, and text, then the scaffolding has to be supplied by an external process that knows about the objects. If the objects know about themselves (that is, they are objects with descriptions within ontologies), then the user-interface can (theoretically) generate scaffolding based on the nature of the objects.
One of the important ideas in instructional transaction theory (ITT) is that instructional strategies can be separated from the content. This allows instructional strategies to be independent (decoupled) from the specific content. Thus, instructional strategies do not have to be redesigned every time a new knowledge object needs to be taught. Besides providing a much more efficient use of resources, this allows the same learning strategies to be consistently used with the same class of instruction transactions and knowledge objects. As Steve stated, if knowledge objects know about themselves, then the instructional strategies can be adapted to the type of knowledge object. In object-oriented programming this is known as polymorphism.
The recent trends towards metadata standards (IMS, LOM, etc.) suggest that future instructional systems will not only contain reusable learning objects, they will eventually incorporate intelligent learning objects that can provide information on how they should be taught.
NETg has recently announced NETg Learning Objects (NLO's) which will allow the configuration of individual learning objects to be configured into a curriculum that meets the specific needs of the learner. The NLO's contain preassessment and post assessment criterion-referenced items that assess mastery of the learning activity contained in the NLO. Small, self-contained learning objects could be assembled in an OLE to present JIT training for learners. The objects used in the OLE could come from many sources and would be downloaded to the learning management system for presentation to the learner.
I think this trend toward OLE's and object-oriented learning will continue, since ongoing retraining will be a necessity in the workplace of the future, and thus require customization of learning needs in real time.