Title: University faculties are under increasing pressure to do more with less. They are expected to contin
1University faculties are under increasing
pressure to do more with less. They are expected
to continuously improve educational experiences
to more students at less expense. Without
assistance, the pressures of increasing demands
and decreasing resources may prove too great to
maintain a high quality learning environment.
Merlot is an online repository of e-Learning
objects designed to enable a broad base of
faculty to provide high quality, online material
to enhance college level learning. ---from
George P Schell, University of North Carolina and
Max Burns, Georgia Southern University, MUSE
e-Service Journal.
2- Find peer reviewed online teaching and learning
materials. - Share advice and expertise about education with
expert colleagues. - Be recognized for your contributions to quality
education. - ---from the merlot website.
Information for this presentation was taken
directly from the Merlot website
http//taste.merlot.org/, the Sloan website, and
various other academic websitesas listed in the
links slide of this presentation.
3- MERLOT is a leading edge, user-centered,
searchable collection of peer reviewed, higher
education, online learning materials created by
registered members, and a set of faculty
development support services. - MERLOT's vision is to be a premiere online
community where faculty, staff, and students from
around the world share their learning materials
and pedagogy.
4- The organization of MERLOT consists of a national
network of online discipline communities. Within
each discipline, MERLOT faculty expert reviewers
have formed panels that select and evaluate the
learning materials. Each panel is in the process
of - developing professional standards for online
learning materials, - engaging in peer review processes similar to
those used for - scholarly works, and
- providing a mechanism to validate and share high
quality works. - Also, to assess usability and to evaluate
effectiveness, user comments from faculty,
students, and other members can be added. - ---Sloan Consortium Review
5History of Merlot
- Merlot started in 1997 through the Califorinia
State University (CSU). It is a derivative of an
NSF funded project created through CSUs Center
for Distributed Learning (CDL). -
- (The Educational Object Economy Foundation
(EOE), also an NSF effort, might be considered
to be a forerunner of Merlot.)
6History of Merlot
- Collaboration with six other state practice
centers with the SCU/CDL, selected for excellence
in faculty development and instructional
technology, created a consortium, which created
the base of Merlot. - CSU/CDL continues to proved the core operational
products and services for the digital collection,
user-interface, and peer review processes.
7Why would faculty be interested in Merlot?
- While most faculty do not have time to develop
online material, they also do not want to use a
course in a box a pre-packaged course. -
- Merlot provides a readily searchable tool to find
and incorporate appropriate peer-reviewed
learning materials into a course or syllabus. - It also provides a way for faculty to offer
their own materials for use by other people in
their field. -
8Why would faculty be interested?
- Merlot also contains profiles of its members. The
Member Directory contains contact information,
academic areas of expertise, and an ePortfolio of
contributions. - Members can also create and annotate personal
collections of materials they find, enabling them
to build elements of teaching and course
ePortfolios easily.
9Participate
- As a Member you can
-
- Contribute learning materials
- Create a personal collection
- Develop a personal profile
- Share your online expertise
- Receive peer recognition
10Faculty Development Support Services
- Building and sustaining online academic
communities. - Online learning initiatives and policies
- Building, organizing, reviewing, and
developing applications of online
teaching-learning materials
11Communications
- MERLOT International Conference,
- Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
- Member publications
- News
- website
12The Merlot Repository
- The MERLOT repository is learning materials,
assignments and comments to enhance the teaching
experience of an exercise. - The learning materials are categorized into 11
different material types. A large selection of
materials in MERLOT also have assignments and
comments attached to them. - It is possible to add any material to a personal
collection, to make organizing your teaching
materials for each of your courses. - Snapshots have also been created for some
materials to provide more depth to a material.
13Material Types
- Simulation
- Animation
- Tutorial
- Drill and Practice
- Quiz/Test
- Lecture/Presentation
- Case Study
- Collection
- Reference Material
14How to Contribute to Merlot
- Become a member.
- http//www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
- Submit material as a member.
- Follow the steps
- You can contribute material from the index page
(as a member) or from your profile page. Once
the material is submitted, it will be reviewed. - Note that you can create (a) Personal
Collection(s) for your material. - Questions Go to the FAQs page
- http//taste.merlot.org/faq.html
- Your material is instantly online and the peer
review board is notified that your material
needs to be reviewed. You can edit the material
at any time, but must notify the webmaster to
delete it.
15Searching Merlot
- Go to the index page
- http//www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
- Browse the collection
- Choose your category
- Choose your sub-category, or sort
- Go to Material
16- How peer review improves faculty satisfactionAn
important aspect of faculty satisfaction is that
faculty members, not administrators, have
oversight of online materials and programming
quality. The Multimedia Educational Resource for
Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)peer reviews
are designed to help faculty determine the
quality of the learning materials in the MERLOT
catalog and their relevance and applicability to
the courses they teach. The MERLOT peer review
process for evaluating teaching-learning
materials follows a model of peer review of
scholarship, offering two benefits related to
faculty satisfaction - Faculty can have their online work viewed as
serious scholarship. - Faculty have a source of high-quality online
materials and resources that meet the quality
standards of their disciplines. - ---Sloan Consortium
17- MERLOT also conducts a variety of assessments of
their tools and processes. Information from an
evaluation of the peer review process conducted
in 2001 by the Center for Usability in Design and
Assessment (CUDA) of CSU Long Beach provided the
basis for the improvement of the service. - Currently, CUDA is performing content analyses of
the posted reviews to help the editorial board to
improve the informative reviews. - ---Sloan Consortium
18- Estimated costs associated with this practice
This service is offered free through the MERLOT
site to the larger academic community, making
duplication by other institutions unnecessary.
There is no cost to individuals or institutions
who want to use the site either to have materials
reviewed or to access reviews and materials. - Relation to other pillarsStudent satisfaction
and learning effectiveness Peer review of
teaching materials and resources contributes to
the overall quality of online programming. This
will be reflected in increased student
satisfaction and positive student learning
outcomes. - Cost effectiveness The MERLOT project also
contributes to cost-effectiveness since it makes
faculty-developed products for teaching and
learning available for sharing through the
Internet. - ---Sloan Consortium
19The issue of Sustainability
- Open Source entities often encounter
sustainability issues. Merlot has built a model
to sustain itself which is different than its
predecessors. - MERLOT's business model is built primarily around
partnerships with organizations that leverage one
another's resources. Scaffolded partners (see
following diagram) can contribute from 25000 to
6500 abd everyone contributes in-kind. - The CSU System continues to take the lead
responsibility for the management, planning, and
operation of MERLOT's processes and tools. - Sustainability is the hot topic of many
conferences and new models are being explored
on an ongoing basis. Merlot is now over 7 years
old and is considered to be robust.
20Categories of Activity
- Individual Members
- Institutional Partners
- Corporate Partners
- Editorial Boards
- Faculty development support services
- Note that Membership is Free.
21--Flora McMartin Journal of Digital Information,
Volume 5 Issue 3
22A Few Links to other University and Higher
Education Consortium Reviews of Merlot
- E-Service Journal Project MUSE
- http//muse.jhu.edu/journals/eservice_journal/v001
/1.2schell.html - Campus Technology
- http//campustechnology.com/articles/39393/
- St. Petersburg College Review
- http//mcc1.mccfl.edu/fl_maa/proceedings/2001/rutl
edge.pdf - Bowdoin Review
- http//www.bowdoin.edu/samato/IRA/reviews/issues/
jun03/merlot.html - Dartmouth Review
- http//www.dartmouth.edu/webteach/spotlights/merl
ot.html - AACE Review
- http//www.aace.org/conf/site/pt3/paper_3008_721.p
df - Temple Review
23More links
- Jodi Review
- http//jodi.tamu.edu/Articles/v05/i03/McMartin/
- Sustainable Issues A presentation from Rice
University - http//oer.wsis-edu.org/MALMOE/malmoe-Dholakia.pdf
- What works and what lasts An Essay
- http//www.pkal.org/documents/Vol4MERLOT.cfm
24Some Questions to Consider
- If you try using Merlots resources, here are
some questions about which we would be interested
in hearing your impressions - How up-to-date/well-maintaineddo you find the
content? - Do you find the content intuitive and
easy-to-use? - Do you find the package or skin appropriate
and relative? - How did you use the content?
- Did you use the content as is or did you find
yourself adding a good deal of customizing? - What was the students feedback about the
content? - Overall, did you find this content useful?
25- If you contribute or have contributed to Merlot,
we would be interested in hearing about your
impressions and experience.
26Contact Information
- Greg Reihman, Ph.D.
- Director, Faculty Development
- 370aFairchild Martindate
- 8-6840 grr3_at_lehigh.edu
- Johanna Brams
- Instructional Technologist
- IMRC/LTS
- 473 Maginnes 9
- 8-6134 jsb4_at_lehigh.edu