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University faculties are under increasing pressure to do more with less. They are expected to contin

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'University faculties are under increasing ... was taken directly from the Merlot website: http://taste.merlot.org/, the ... http://taste.merlot.org/faq.html ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: University faculties are under increasing pressure to do more with less. They are expected to contin


1
University 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

5
History 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.)

6
History 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.

7
Why 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.

8
Why 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.

9
Participate
  • As a Member you can
  • Contribute learning materials
  • Create a personal collection
  • Develop a personal profile
  • Share your online expertise
  • Receive peer recognition

10
Faculty 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

11
Communications
  • MERLOT International Conference,
  • Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
  • Member publications
  • News
  • website

12
The 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.

13
Material Types
  • Simulation
  • Animation
  • Tutorial
  • Drill and Practice
  • Quiz/Test
  • Lecture/Presentation
  • Case Study
  • Collection
  • Reference Material

14
How 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.

15
Searching 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

19
The 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.

20
Categories 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
22
A 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

23
More 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

24
Some 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.

26
Contact 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
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