Sharing and Re-using Scientific and Educational Resources in the Monist Learning Environment

The problem of sharing and re-using existing digital scientific and educational resources within learning environments has vital importance for building an effective e-learning resource repository. Most systems lack integrative mechanisms to connect arbitrary resources to learning units. This article describes such a mechanism and opens perspectives for its use in higher education. It is implemented in the monist system, a learning and instruction environment supporting the use of simulations in higher education. Monist provides a unified educational context and supports sharing and recombination of stored learning objects. By integration of external resources the re-use of existing scientific and educational resources is fostered. Originally designed for education in neural and cognitive sciences, monist offers a general solution to the problem of sharing and re-using content.