North Carolina Learning Object Repository
 | This article contains promotional content. (March 2010) |
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (March 2010) |
 | This article or section may have been copied and pasted from another location, possibly in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy. (March 2010) |
| Developer(s) | Team NCLOR |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 3.2 QA5
/ June 1, 2009 |
| Written in | Equella |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Institutional repository |
| License | Equella license based on FTE |
| Website | www.explorethelor.org |
The North Carolina Learning Object Repository (NCLOR) empowers faculty across North Carolina by providing them with a central location to manage, collect, contribute, and share digital learning resources for use in traditional or distance learning environments. The NCLOR is designed to increase the efficiency and productivity of K-20 teachers across the state by providing quality resources and by reducing duplication of effort associated with course development. NCLOR participants include the 58 colleges from the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), University of North Carolina (UNC ) System, North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (36 private institutions), the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI), and North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS).
History
The NCLOR was conceived in 2006 by Dr. Bill Randall of the NCCCS. At that time, individual institutions had been purchasing or considering purchase of content repositories to serve their own needs without consideration of a centralized, sharable entity, which would drastically reduce the duplicative costs of content development. In addition, individual institutional contracts waste valuable public funding when all institutions in a system could be served via a consortium contract. The total effect of a shared, system-wide learning object repository would be a repository in which individual content collections could be shared, commercial content could be obtained more economically, content could be enhanced and maintained, and total IT support and hardware costs could be drastically reduced.
Thus, the NCLOR was designed to be a repository of digital learning content that will be accessed and utilized by all PreK-20 educational institutions in North Carolina. Representatives from all NC educational sectors (NCCCS, UNC, Independent Colleges & Universities) participated in creation and development of NCLOR from inception to production. It was conceptualized that the NCLOR would provide the following benefits:
- Centralize hosting to reduce costs of hardware and IT;
- Capability for instructors to share Learning Object (LO) items;
- Capability for newly developed LO items to be moderated, improved, deployed, and shared;
- Reduce duplication of effort and save development resources statewide;
- Integrate easily with a Learning Management System (LMS) for ease of course creation
- The ability to set permissions for client populations;
- Report and usage capabilities; and
- Conform to standards governing content, protocol, and federation.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) was created and publicized. Several vendors responded with their database products and Equella from The Learning Edge was chosen.
The NCLOR began production in January 2008, fully integrated with course management and data systems, and fully operational for North Carolina faculty to create and use sharable content.
Technology
The NCLOR partners with the North Carolina Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), which provides application hosting and broadband connectivity. The underlying database technology allows easy searching, contribution, and classification by NCCCS staff or partner faculty. Safeguards are implemented to ensure that individual copyright and digital rights are not abused. Integration with an LMS such as Blackboard or Moodle allows ease of course creation.
Benefits
Direct benefits to an instructor and college include:
- Preservation of resources
- Personal exposure to the greater academic community
- The opportunity to share expertise and materials with peers who could vastly improve their class structure, student interest, and outcomes by using quality resources in their classes
- Collaboration, leading to cost saving and improved efficiency in teaching endeavors
- Personal recognition
- College acclamation
- Alternative to publishing
- Seamless integration with an (LMS), such as Moodle or Blackboard
Goals
The goal of the NCLOR project is to provide a viable product that increases the efficiency, interactivity, and interest of courses throughout North Carolina. In an age where students are constantly accessing digitized information, usually in an engaging format, it is imperative that teachers provide similar capabilities in the classroom. As faculty make significant use of this repository, a culture change leaning toward collaboration and sharing will permeate throughout our educational systems. Our current economic woes emphasize the need for leaner, more cooperative ventures. The NCLOR provides that opportunity.
Community
Supporting the NCLOR effort is the Virtual Learning Community (VLC). The NCCCS awarded grants to fund three VLC Support Centers over three fiscal years through 2010. These grants were awarded to:
- Surry Community College (SCC) for the Quality Assessment and Subject Coordination Task Force Center
- Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC) for the Technology Center
- Wake Technical Community College (WTCC) for the Professional Development Center
In addition, VLC Course Development Centers create and update courses that are part of the Community College common curriculum for inclusion into the NCLOR. These centers are:
- Wake Technical Community College - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Center
- Surry Community College - Nursing, Early Childhood Education, Developmental Course Center
- Wayne Community College - Continuing Education Center
These centers will support the continual development, creation, storage, and sharing of digital learning resources and courses through use of the NCLOR.