Learning objects, the knowledge age and the end of the world (as we know it)

The development of learning objects and technical e-learning standards is often justified in the literature as a necessary response to the challenges of our present “information age” or “knowledge society.” Such understandings of our current historical and social situation tend to be presented as self-evident, and are not subject in this same literature to further explanation or question. This paper attempts to make these understandings explicit, and in doing so, throws into question their accuracy and adequacy as ways of understanding our current economic era or historical configuration. As a further result, this paper raises questions regarding the urgency of the development of “object-oriented” and standardized approaches to educational content.