Repurposing a learning activity on academic integrity: the experience of three universities

There is currently great interest in reuse of digital learning resources, from single items to multi-task activities, to whole units or programmes of study. Associated with this interest is the ongoing development of tools to enable such resources to be placed in or recovered from repositories, to facilitate searching for them and their instantiation on different learning platforms. Many of these tools are highly technical, in terms of both technology and terminology, and they are the province of learning technologists and computer scientists, rather than teachers. Concentration on such tools begs the question as to whether teachers and learners will truly benefit from reuse of learning resources. This paper describes the re-purposing of a learning activity created in a university in the US for use in two UK universities. The case study approach facilitates comparison of the technical and content issues that were addressed and resolved. The authors formulate and explore a proposition about the validity of an 'object based' approach to learning resources and conclude with a plea for better tools for teachers.