In this article, an extension of the existing structure of learning objects is described. The solution addresses the problem of the access and discovery of educational resources in the distributed Internet environment. An overview of e-learning standards, reference models, and problems with educational resources delivery is presented. The paper describes a new concept of learning component that is created by applying object-oriented paradigms to learning objects. The proposed transformation adds an interface to a learning object to create unified and platform-independent data access. The Web services are proposed for the implementation of the learning components, which enables interoperability in heterogenic environments. An outline of the system, that uses learning components and Web services in e-learning, is presented. The model can be applied in the organization of learning objects distributed repositories. (Contains 6 figures and 2 tables.)