According to standardization initiatives and vendors of both authoring tools and Learning Content Management Systems (LCMSs), the application of 'learning objects' promises an effective and efficient way of creating, managing and reusing learning materials. However, actual reuse is nowadays seldom applied optimally, mostly mainly at an 'instructional clipart' level, in a non-automatic way. Also, the creation of learning objects appears to be as complex, time-consuming and expensive as with traditional multimedia learning material. The pilot study described in this paper is aimed at gaining insight in the creation and management process of learning objects, to determine optimal support for content developers.