114 Introduction There are several models for designing educational content for learning objects (LOs). These models are based on the aggrega- tion of learning resources in rational wholes that serve concrete learning objectives. However, they are characterized by hetero- geneous views with respect to the determination of the size and the educational functions of LOs: should LOs serve one or more learning objectives? Should they be deined as components of a lesson or should they be equated with the lesson itself, perhaps even with a course or seminar? The deinitions of LOs provided by these models are also determined by the wider social and educational purposes that particular communities state in terms of their reuse. Respectively, the aggregation of LOs as well as their reusability varies according to the educational expectations of the organizations/institutions or the teachers who will use them. Balatsoukas, Morris and O’ Brian (2008), have proposed the organization of object-oriented educational content, in three general aggregation levels: At the irst aggregation level they place digital re- • sources such as raw data (e.g., audio iles, text iles, video or image fragments etc) and information objects (collections of data with an informative purpose). At the second aggregation level, learning objects are • created through the combination of raw data as well as information objects. At this level, according to some designers, a learning object can serve more than one learning objective, while others tend to equate it with a lesson. DesIGnInG LeARnInG oBJeCts: A GenRe-BAseD APPRoACH George Vorvilas, Thanassis Karalis, Konstantinos Ravanis University of Patras, Greece Abstract. In the present paper, a genre- based conceptual framework for interpret- ing and designing content for learning objects is proposed. Learning objects are considered here as multimodal macrogen- res. These macrogenres are constituted of content objects which are in fact types of digital microgenres. The successful and coherent information linking of these con- tent objects inside a LO can be achieved through particular rhetorical relations. The knowledge of the several types of digital microgenres as well as the rhetorical rela- tions between them, can equip an author/ teacher with a repertoire of semiotic concepts, which make him capable of in- terpreting already made material, as well as creating new and coherent material, in order to afect and motivate students in particular ways, through his intended communicative and educational purposes. Key words: learning objects, content objects, multimodal macrogenres, multimodal microgenres, logico-semantic relations, rhetorical structure theory. George Vorvilas Thanassis Karalis Konstantinos Ravanis