Repositories of learning objects as learning environments for teachers

A number of proposals exist, aiming to discuss the needs of teachers who use a repository of learning objects in order to improve their activity. Very useful indications can be drawn from them. However, further attention should be paid to the analysis of the experience gained by a community of teachers when dealing with educational material. This experience, in fact, plays a critical role in the individual process of deciding on reuse. This observation leads to the idea of conceiving learning objects so to model the evolving nature of educational materials and the cooperative process that underlies the formation of its pedagogical meaning. To this aim, we discuss the pedagogical knowledge involved in the reuse process. We show how this knowledge can constitute an operative basis to realise repositories that act as learning environments for teachers. Thus, we suggest an approach to the development of communities of practice in the educational field.