1. Nancy Kerner, Brenda Gunderson, and more The University of Michigan Innovative Use of MERLOT

2. Outline The Challenge The Barriers The Proposed Solution The Outcomes The Impact

3. The Challenge To improve undergraduate education by integrating quality cross-discipline and course-specific Learning Objects (LOs) into undergraduate courses

4. What BARRIERS do you perceive to using technology in teaching or learning? Don’t know how to implement Extra work, little connection Takes too much time I spend too much time on it Students don’t know how to use it Don’t have tech support Too complicated Too expensive I don’t have the skills Doesn’t work on my computer Low Barrier High Barrier http://carat.umich.edu/carat/itsurs/2005_survey

5. The Proposed Solution Educate graduate students across disciplines to access, evaluate, design LOs; and to create quality course-specific and cross-discipline LO collections. Graduate students disseminate these LO collections and designed LOs to relevant faculty for integration into undergraduate courses  The trainee becomes the trainer

6. The Proposed Solution: Unique Collaborative Approach Graduate Student Teacher(s) Faculty/Staff Mentor(s) + MERLOT Faculty Interest in tech + pedagogy Train to find and critically evaluate online LOs Train to author and package LOs for classroom use MERLOT knowledgeable Guidance on best practices for enhancing teaching and learning Provide schedule of topics and concepts Provide insight on muddy points and desirable LOs

7. The Proposed Solution: Why MERLOT collaboration? LO resource growing exponentially LO evaluation criteria Grape Camp reviewer training Ability to submit LOs and create LO collections Power of affiliation with a global teaching and learning community

8. 5. Produce MERLOT review 6. Create course LO collection 7. Training: designing LOs 8. Implementation of LOs The Proposed Solution: Training & Implementation Process Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 1 2 1.Introductions and start of monthly meetings 2.UM workshops (Enriching Scholarship) 3.MERLOT Grape Camp 4.Interview Faculty regarding needs 7 8 56 4 3 4 5 6 Rushing is not an option

9. The Outcomes: Access, Evaluate, Start LO Collections Months 3 and 4: MERLOT Grape Camp completed Faculty from targeted courses interviewed regarding LO needs LO course-specific collections in process of being built

10. The Outcomes: Faculty LO Preferences (Psychology)

11. A Personal Collection of Peer Reviewed LOs on MERLOT

12. An Innovative End of Term Assignment Intro Psych students pick own “muddiest point” Student = para-peer reviewer found, reviewed, recommended LO to address muddiest point Students submitted mini-review of LO and recommendation for why and how to implement in course Para-Peer Reviewers The Outcomes: Unique Discipline-Specific Collection Building

13. Students recommended many quality LOs previously overlooked or undiscovered Pavlov’s Dog- A classical conditioning simulation Cataloged in: Science&Technology/Biology/ZoologyScience&TechnologyBiologyZoology Mouse Party- A simulation for examining the effect of common illicit drugs at the synaptic level Cataloged in: Science&TechnologyScience&Technology/Chemistry/BiochemistryChemistryBiochemistry

14. The Outcomes: Integration of Collections and Individual LOs Entire Collection available within course –Listing based on course objectives –Provided within syllabus or on website Individual LOs integrated within course –Choice based on needs vs type of learning object –Choice focused on LOs that address difficult concepts or skills

15. Collection Listing for Student Use in Course

16. Atomic Structure: First 11 Elements Interactive Discussion In Depth Discussion Interactive Presentation Balancing Equations: Practice Calculator Math: In Depth Discussion Periodic Table: In Depth Discussion Interactive PT Interactive Trends Interactive PT Bonding: : Interactive Presentation Electron Density Structure of Matter Water: Interactive Presentation Chemistry 125 Background LOs

17. The Outcomes: Integration Using The Imperfect LO (Statistics) Many excellent LOs have flaw (inconsistent notation, lack of directions)  poor as standalone resource. How can an imperfect LO be incorporated into class? By “packaging” the resource, instructor can guide students’ interaction with imperfect LO.

18. 18 The Excellent, But Imperfect LO from Statistics The Outcomes: Integration Using The Imperfect LO (Statistics)

19. 19 The Outcomes: Integration Using The Imperfect LO (Statistics) The Packaged LO See more tomorrow 10-10:30 San Simeon

20. The Outcomes: Design of Learning Objects LO Unavailable? Design an LO: –1: Identify Curriculum Need –2: Select Relevant Content –3: Choose Type of Material –4: Design LO Layout –5: Create Layout Posters Produce the LO –Faculty/staff mentor or student studying programming

21. Some typical lectures…. Hurray for Dynamics! Quantum is FUN Harmonic Oscillator Phase SpaceFree Particle Wavepacket Spread But what does the time dependence look like? The Outcomes: Integration Bringing Lectures to Life (Quantum Physics) Created LOs to show what time dependence looks like

22. The Outcomes: Integration Making Homework Interactive (Quantum Physics) Guided tutorial style homework Created an LO and ‘packaged’ it into guided HW See more tomorrow 10-10:30 Santa Clara

23. The Outcomes: Cross-disciplinary LO Collection Success in any course demands a solid foundation in a variety of basic academic skills What exactly is a “research paper”?

24. The Outcomes: Cross-Disciplinary LO Collection Freshman typically have had little experience with writing a research paper Use of internet search engines often results in students citing unprofessional sources where anyone can post information

25. The Outcomes: Cross-disciplinary LO Collection Cross-discipline “seed” collection of 15 LOs –Collection built from common cross-discipline (chemistry, psychology, and statistics) topics and LO choices 2 nd Generation collection in development –Additional disciplines (math, languages, physics, writing) provide input

26. The Impact Intro Stats 3000 students Intro Chemistry 2900 students Intro Psych 800 students Calculus I, II, III 3000 students Intro Physics 1200 students Spanish 200 students Composition 1500 students Year One Total = 5100 students Year One + Year Two = 12,000 students

27. Thank You to … UM Team Members –Nancy Kerner –Brenda Gunderson –Brian Malley –Dave Childers –Jay Holden –Joel Vaughn –Porscha McRobbie –Kira Gallagher –Damian Khan –Noah Gardner –Tanya Breault –Adena Rottenstein UM Support –Victor Wong –Lynne Crandall –Chase Masters MERLOT And YOU … for coming Any Questions?