You could call this an object lesson. Examples Where objects come from Programmers would like to think that they invented objects, that with object-orientated design and programming they originated a completely new way of thinking about the construction of complex systems. However, chances are that if you're at home right now and that at any time in the past few years a child has been playing in your room, then there's evidence of object-orientation hiding somewhere in those dark corners behind the TV and the sofa. I'm talking Lego - small, reusable components, built to simple but exacting standards, that can be selectively applied by kids of all ages to construction tasks both great and small. Lego endures in these days of videogames and short attention spans because it's portable, durable, sharable, and accessible - qualities that, come to think of it, can rarely be applied to learning resources.
Learning objects are an application of object-orientated thinking to the world of learning.
The idea is, that by building learning resources as reusable components, developers of learning materials, learning managers and learners themselves will all stand to gain. Let's start with developers. Learning administrators, whether they're in the training department or a college of further education, stand to benefit too. For a start, it's easier to customise learning materials to particular audiences. And let's not forget learners themselves.