ABSTRACT
Metadata is widely heralded as the necessary means to a worthwhile end: the re-use of information (Downes 2001). However, re-using materials remains highly problematic within higher education (Beetham 2002). In this chapter, some alternative readings of the roles and functions of metadata will be explored. Tensions attendant on the introduction of metadata will then be outlined, raising questions about its impact on educational culture. This will include examining the contestation of academic roles and responsibilities, the relationship between learning and ‘learning objects’, evidence of the processes through which resources are re-used and the semantic implications of standardising terminology. These themes will then be interpreted in terms of the way in which power is used to control or redefine academic practices. Several implications for the future of work with metadata arise from this analysis. Specifically, it will be argued that if metadata is to achieve its advocated role in transforming higher education, either metadata standards or educational diversity will have to ‘give’.
