October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT1 Gerry Hanley Executive Director, MERLOT Senior Director, CSU Office of the Chancellor For NERCOMP Workshop – Learning Objects October 14, 2004 A Taste of MERLOT in Teaching and Learning

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT2 Is this YOU? Your Campus Community & Academic Culture Mass = 1

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT3 What are your options? Reduce what you have to lift Move the fulcrum closer to object Strengthen the lever Add weight to your forces Peer Recognition/Review & Reduce Teaching Workload Tenure & Teaching Processes Academic Initiatives: MERLOT Focus on People

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT4 Taking a Tour Through the MERLOT Vineyard

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT5 Reducing Faculty Workload in the Teaching-Learning Lifecycle Step I: Research for Teaching Step II: Designing the Learning Experience Step III: Teaching Step IV: Learning Step V: Feedback, Assessment, & Evaluation Enabling faculty to be effective and efficient in the use of technology in teaching and learning is key

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT6 Step 1: Research For Teaching: Collecting and Creating Content “How can I choose resources and materials with confidence in the quality, reliability, and usability that I want to use in teaching my students in a timely, effective, and efficient manner?”

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT7 Individual and Institutional Personalization of MERLOT Personal Collections: CSU-NASACSU-NASA RSS (Rich Site Syndication): CVCCVC Federated Search: ComPadreComPadre Search Services: Unv of Wisconsin Training –MERLOT Summer Institute at Cornell –Annual MERLOT International Conference Step I: Research for Teaching

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT8 Leveraging the World’s Collection of Learning Objects GLOBE: Global Learning Object Brokered Exchange to expand the quantity and quality of online educational resources that can be easily incorporated into faculty designed courses. Partnership of digital libraries that have sustained institutional constituents – Federated SearchFederated Search –ARIADNE (European Union), EdNA (Australia), eduSource (Canada), NIME (Japan), and MERLOT (US) are the founding “stewards” of GLOBE. Step I: Research for Teaching

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT9

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT10 Step 2: Designing the Learning Experience - Creating Course Curriculum from Content. “How can I organize other’s resources and materials as well as my own into an effective composition of course content in a timely and efficient manner?”

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT11 Reflective Case Studies How do I weave the fabric of the learning experience to support student success? –Faculty need support in transforming a rich collection of resources into curriculum Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching –expertise in identifying the threads and materials that are useful How to teach people to weave vs. giving them the whole cloth? –Tools to do the weaving: KEEP Toolkit: Knowledge, Exchange, Exhibition and Presentation: Sample in MERLOT Jane MooreJane Moore Step II: Designing the Learning Experience

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT12 Creating the MERLOT Community “Portals” Solution in Partnerships –Macromedia’s Contribute provides a platform for managing usability, effectiveness, responsiveness, and costs –MERLOT administrative team provides the templates and authorizations –Editorial Boards create and update the contentcontent Step II: Designing the Learning Experience

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT13 MERLOT and WebCT/Bb WebCT and Bb are formal Industry Affiliates Brings MERLOT to where faculty are designing courses within an eLearning environment Brings MERLOT and WebCT/Bb into a more coherent framework that lessens the confusion, workload, and other burdens for faculty designing learning experiences –WebCT partnership focused on showcasing models of online courses built with MERLOT materials –Bb partnership focused on RSS building blocks Step II: Designing the Learning Experience

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT14 Partnership with TLT Group Leverage TLT Roundtable and LTA (Low Threshold Applications) Initiatives Discount for Partner Services in progress –10% off on TLT services –10% off on MERLOT annual fees Step II: Designing the Learning Experience

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT15 Step 3: Teaching - Delivering the Learning Experience “How can I give my students the curriculum they need when they need it in a timely, effective, and efficient manner?”

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT16 Virtual Speakers Bureau MERLOT’s Virtual Speakers Bureau Partnership with the Colorado Community Colleges OnlineVirtual Speakers Bureau –Dialog between experts and students is at the core of excellent teaching –Easily find, contact, and incorporate Guest Experts into teaching Leverages use of MERLOT Member Directory Leverage use of online communications tools Step III: Teaching

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT17 Learning: Transforming the Minds of Students “How can my students develop their skills, knowledge, and attitudes representative of the learning outcomes of my course in a timely, effective, and efficient manner?”

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT18 Assessing and Evaluating Student Learning and Providing Feedback for Student Learning “How do students get their learning evaluated and feedback about their learning in a timely, effective, and efficient manner?”

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT19 Influencing Tenure and Promotion If you don’t get recognized by your peers for high quality work in teaching and learning with technology, It doesn’t matter how effective or efficient you are.

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT20 Technology & Tenure/Promotion Guidelines for evaluating technology in instruction are being published –Modern Language Association, American Association for History and Computing –University of Michigan, Duquesne University, Peer evaluation & testimony by experts in field to verify quality & importance to discipline Making digital scholarship “visible” Electronic portfolios vs. Evidence files of the crime of doing good work Evaluate materials in the medium in which the scholarship was created Jessica Somers

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT21 Tenure & Promotion with MERLOT MERLOT provides QUALITY REVIEWS –Standards-based evaluation –Independent panel of experts –Training for the reliable application of standards MERLOT provides DOCUMENTATION –Documentation for Authors, Contributors, Reviewers, and Users –An electronic “portfolio” can be created within MERLOT

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT22 Benefits to Faculty Authors Visibility of their Scholarship of Teaching through MERLOT website Peer Review of their scholarship –Evaluation of quality, effectiveness, and usability –Feedback for improvements Recognition and documentation –MERLOT publicly posts review on website –MERLOT Awards – Classics and Editors’ Choice –MERLOT citations in other’s Personal Collections –MERLOT sends two letters summarizing the review procedure and evaluation report to two of author’s designees –Document can become part of author’s tenure and promotion portfolio

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT23 Benefits to Faculty Contributors Visibility of curriculum development & pedagogical innovations through MERLOT –Adding Materials –Adding Member Comments/Reviews –Adding Assignments –Creating Personal Collections Recognition and documentation –MERLOT creates an ePortfolio of its members’ Special Benefits for Adjunct Faculty –Document can become part of Contributor’s Tenure and Promotion Portfolio

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT24 Benefits to Editorial Board Members Visibility of their expertise and authority through MERLOT website –Performing and publishing peer reviews Recognition and documentation –MERLOT creates an ePortfolio of its Editorial Board’s peer reviews of materials within MERLOT –MERLOT provides “letter of appointment” describing qualifications and responsibilities –Documents can become part of Editorial Board member’s Tenure and Promotion Portfolio

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT25 MERLOT Measures of Community Participation

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT26 Usage Continues to Grow USAGEDec 2001Dec 2002July 2003July 2004 Hits per month 710,2161,310,5261,512,4631,903,938 Average Unique Visitors per mo. 9,57913,98515,21616,176 Average number of Users per mo. N/A18,74221,64327,289 % of users that go to Home page, then continue N/A97%

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT27 MERLOT’s People Metrics MEMBERSHIP Dec ‘01Dec ‘02July ’03July ‘04 Students 9591,994 2,569 3,652 Faculty 3,7746,621 8,965 11,563 Staff 1,0031,677 2,107 2,522 Administrators Librarians Other 6511,069 1,428 1,867 TOTAL # of Members 6,38711,56115,06920,030* 435 Added/mo 22 removed/mo

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT28 Growth of MERLOT Collection COLLECTIONDec 2001 Dec 2002 July 2003 July 2004 # of Materials6,7578,8379,587*9,806 # of Peer Reviews ,445 # of Materials w/ User Comments 1,4851,9041,885*2,044 # of Members w/ Personal Collections N/A * = Dead-links removed -average 22 materials/mo. 99% +live links

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT29 MERLOT Higher Ed Community Type of ParticipationNumber Sustaining Level2 System Level14 Campus Level7 # of Editorial Boards15 # of Editorial Board Members110/140 # of Administrative Team Members13 hc/8 ep

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT30 Lasting Thoughts We are maturing as an organization, building sustainable reciprocity We have programs that will deliver value to our partners Our vision continues to become real As always, our next steps are ones we take together

October 14, 2004Copyright MERLOT31 Will this be you? Mass = Campus Community Mass = Campus Practices