Timothy Tirrell Virginia Community College System Serving MERLOT on Your Campus

15 minutes of MERLOT (or less) Quick Overview of MERLOT A Tour Through the MERLOT Vineyard –The services that you can use right now Conference Connections Questions, Answers, Discussion

Vision and Mission MERLOT’S VISION is to be a premier online community where faculty, staff, and students from around the world share teaching-learning materials and pedagogy. MERLOT’S MISSION is to improve the effectiveness of teaching & learning by expanding the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed online learning materials that can be easily incorporated into faculty designed courses.

What is MERLOT? M M ultimedia E E ducational R R esource for L L earning and O O nline T T eaching

MERLOT IS: MERLOT IS:  A Free and Open Resource  Searching & identifying  Evaluating  Using  Cataloging  Developing  A Community  Systems & individuals  Disciplines  E-Portfolios  Repository  Software  Federated searching

Types of Learning Materials Simulations Animations Tutorials Drill & Practice Quiz/Test Lecture/Presentation Collections Reference Materials Learning Assignments

MERLOT is like running a small, open university with all part-time faculty, department chairs, and staff supported by bartering, volunteerism, an under-funded budget, and a hand-shake. …… and it’s working. MERLOT is a cooperative of higher education institutions that serve our common needs through collaboration.

What is a Learning Object? “Content Objects” “Knowledge Objects” “Components of Instructional ” “Pedagogical Documents” “Online Materials” “Virtual Apparatus” “Learning Materials vs. Teaching Materials” REUSABLE GRANULARITY

Instructional Building Blocks……

Taking A Tour Through The MERLOT Vineyard

Serving the Needs of Faculty Through Promotion and Tenure

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 Teaching and Course Portfolios

MERLOT’s Value 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

MERLOT’s Value to Faculty Contributors & Users 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 TA/GA & Adjunct Faculty –Document can become part of Contributor’s Tenure and Promotion Portfolio

MERLOT’s Value 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

MERLOT’s People METRICS USAGEDec 2001Dec 2002 Hits per month710,2161,310,526 Unique Visitors per month 9,57912,279 Av. Session Length5:10 min.14:41 min. MEMBERSHIP Students Faculty3,7746,621 Staff1,0031,677 Other TOTAL # of Members6,38711,561

MERLOT’s Collection METRICS ResourcesDec 2001Dec 2002 # of Materials # of Peer Reviews # of Materials with User Comments

New MERLOT Services Growing Digital Library and Services Federated Searching Federated SearchingFederated Searching “Mini-MERLOT’s” for your websites Professional Development Services MERLOT International Conference MERLOT-Teaching and Technology Support for Adjunct Faculty MERLOT Alliance Partners American Association of Physics Teachers EdNA Online Digital Library (Australia) NLII/EDUCAUSE National University of Rwanda New Media Consortium/Centers

Join as an Individual Join as an Institution Next Steps Are The Ones We Take Together! Questions? Graphic Design by Rachel S. Smith, CSU Center for Distributed Learning