© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 MERLOT Governance The Challenges of Managing a Virtual Academic Consortium Professor Sorel Reisman MERLOT Managing Director
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Presentation Outline Geographical Perspective History of MERLOT Governance – Participants & Organization Structure Library Partners Communicating in a Virtual World Other MERLOT Entities Managing Content
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Geographical Perspective: Virtual Entity but Physical Presence
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel MERLOT – An International Consortium
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Headquarters
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel A Closer Look
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Even Closer
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel A Tourist Destination
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel The California State University
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Origins of MERLOT
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Brief History of MERLOT MERLOT developed and hosted at Cal State University, Sonoma The University of Georgia System, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, University of North Carolina System, and the California State University System formed the MERLOT ‘cooperative’ 2000 –January – MERLOT cooperative sponsored 48 Biology, Physics, Business and Teacher Education faculty (12 from each system) to develop peer review standards/processes for on-line teaching-learning materials –April - other higher ed systems/institutions invited to join MERLOT cooperative. –July - 23 higher ed systems/institutions of higher education had become MERLOT Institutional Partners –New release of MERLOT website –Hosted by CSU at WestEd 2006 (August) – third release of MERLOT of website 2007 (June) – 47,000+ members and 17,000 library materials - TBA – mirror host in Sacramento, California – California Virtual College
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Participatory Governance
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Governance Participants Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Project Directors Council Editors Council Corporations Consortia MERLOT International Conference Committee Journal of Online Learning & Teaching Editorial Board
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Partners
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Organization
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Advisory Board Organization
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Organization
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Organization Project Directors Board Members Editors
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Organization Project Directors Board Members Editors MICJOLT
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Organization Project Directors Board Members Editors MICCorporationsConsortiaJOLT
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Members Organization Project Directors Board Members Editors MICCorporationsConsortiaJOLT Members
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff Advisory Board Members Organization Project Directors Board Members Editors MICCorporationsConsortiaJOLT Members
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Community Participation TypeNumber Admin Team – CSU Office of the Chancellor employees ~ 8 FTE Advisory BoardVariable Sustaining Partners - Project Directors2 State System Level - Project Directors16 Campus Level10 Discipline Editorial Boards16+ Editorial Board Members≈160
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Staff Locations Executive Director – Long Beach Managing Director – Newport Beach Webmaster – Seal Beach Director of Academic Programs – Dallas Director of Institutional Development - Oklahoma Developers – Huntington Beach, Arkansas, Las Vegas IT Support Staff – Phoenix
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Staff Locations
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel MERLOT Added Value Access to the Partner Reserve A voice in the strategic direction of MERLOT Support of the peer review process in MERLOT to increase the value of the collection Seedling package – branded newsletter for localized institutional MERLOT communications Institutional Teaching Commons package for localized MERLOT-based faculty development presence JOLT package for online journal infrastructure replication Reduced MIC registration fee
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Library Partners
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Related Libraries
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel GLOBE Worldwide
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 COMMUNICATIONS Managing a Virtual Organization
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel GroupActual MeetingVirtual Meeting Staff Advisory Board Project Directors Editors Council MIC JOLT Meeting Schedules
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel GroupActual MeetingVirtual Meeting Staff Bi-annual retreat Partner meetings Weekly strategy Weekly operations Advisory Board Mid Year Meeting MIC As required Project Directors Mid Year Meeting MIC Monthly Bi-annual major Editors Council Mid Year Meeting MIC Monthly Bi-annual major MIC Weekly JOLT Mid Year Meeting MIC Monthly Meeting Schedules
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Meeting Modes Actual –Staff Retreats – biannually –Mid Year Meeting: Staff, Project Directors, Editors Council, Advisory Board –MIC: Staff Editors Council Project Directors Joint session of EC and PD Advisory Board Virtual –Staff – Weekly Operations; Weekly Management –Project Directors – Monthly Operations; annually operations –Editors Council – Monthly Operations; annually operations
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Director Staff MIC Board Members Project Directors Advisory Board CorporationsConsortiaJOLT Editors Members Communicating with Members Webmaster
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel The Webmaster “Human Face” of MERLOT End User technical support Role of Webmaster non-existent 5-6 years ago /phone requests/issues 2007 (January to May) Webmaster responds almost 7/24 Issues which make up half of all inquires: Information requests (MIC, JOLT, contributing) Web Services Bad s Profile needs to be updated/removed Unable to log in Peer review process/requests about peer review Remedy Reporting Analytics essential to process & site improvement
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Vineyard Newsletter
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Grapevine Newsletter
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Extending the Community: Building Editorial Boards Taskforce – “editorial board in-training” Core group - 4+ motivated individuals including Chair Develop discipline taxonomy 100 – 150 submitted learning materials –20% with Assignments –20% with Member Comments Portal editor selected Declare Editorial Board Example - Fire Safety –Taxonomy – 1 month –Build Collection - 4 months –Training - 2 months –Oversight - 4 months
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Other MERLOT Entities
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel MERLOT International Conference “The MIC”
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel MIC Committee Positions Volunteer committee Staff advisory liaison Strategic direction – staff defined Operations – committee led Logistics - event planning company Committee chair – may be host site person Weekly committee meetings Weekly MERLOT staff update
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel MIC Conference Committee
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Journal of Online Teaching & Learning
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel JOLT Board
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Managing Content
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Distribute Content Management
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Grapevine Newsletter
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Grapevine Newsletter
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Portal Content
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel Portal Template Institutional Teaching Commons
June 2007 © MERLOT Tel Aviv, Israel MERLOT About Us
© MERLOT Tel Aviv, IsraelJune 2007 Discussion