VILOs Concept

What Is VILOs?

VILOs are invaluable to educators because they are concise, specific, reusable, and available in multiple formats. Many Ivy Tech Community College faculty members plan to develop program-specific VILOs in Spring and Summer 08 to meet student demand. Students, who are immersed in an increasingly digital world outside of the classroom, are seeking richer and more engaging learning experiences. As a result, instructors are exploring innovative ways to use technology to foster interaction, collaboration, and excitement for learning.

What are learning objects and their characteristics?

According to the Department of Defense (DOD), learning objects have the following characteristics or “ilities”: reusability, accessibility, interoperability, and durability. These “ilities,” explains Kaiser (2000), result in activity-sized learning objects (Downes, 2003; Hamel & Ryan-Jones, 2002; Ploetz, 2003; South & Monson, 2000).

Tools:

While a lot of technology goes into developing VILOs, much of it is already available on most campuses. While developing the Medical Assisting VILOs, Bill Brown, Multimedia Specialist, and Andaz Ahmad, Director of Instructional Technology, identified these items as important:

Hardware

Hardware Typically Used On Medical Assisting VILOs includes:

• Ceiling-height overhead camera tripod, Manfrotto, Custom-welded monopod attached to perpendicular pipe and cantilevered by $20.00 weight, $60 plus volunteer welding
• Speaker stand, generic, 8-foot extensible (to hold ceiling-height overhead camera tripod), $100.00
• Camera tripod, generic, five-feet tall, $100.00