Merlot: An Innovative Approach To
Teaching Distance Education
• JAZZING IT UP WITH MERLOT
• 2007 MERLOT International Conference
• New Orleans, LA
• Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Why don’t more faculty use MERLOT
as a resource for teaching, instruction
and scholarship?
• Maybe….they just don’t know about it?
• Maybe….the learners/students won’t like
it?
• Maybe….it will take too much time to
learn how to use it?
MERLOT: What is it?
• Free and open resource designed for faculty and
learners/students of higher education
• Anyone can browse, select and even use
learning content
• Content posted to MERLOT is placed there by
those who apply for membership.
• The web link to join Merlot is:
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/join.htm
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It only takes about 10 minutes to complete the short membership survey.
• Individual membership is free, but there are
costs for other levels of membership
MERLOT: Priorities and goals
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Community and collaboration
Professional Development and outreach
Digital library connection and services
Enabling technologies
MERLOT: VISION & GOAL
• 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.
• MERLOT's strategic goal is to improve the effectiveness
of teaching and learning by increasing the quantity and
quality of peer reviewed online learning materials that
can be easily incorporated into faculty designed courses.
• Merlot’s goal is to make you a better teacher, learner,
and business professional.
Distance Education Learners:
Some students need an alternative system of education.
Students Learn--
– 1% through taste
–1.5% through touch
–3.5% through smell
–11% through hearing
–83% through sight
Learning:
Students Remember-10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
80% of what we say
90% of what we say and do
-Rigg
MERLOT
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As you search for learning materials, you can click on the global
search button or go to the academic discipline area and then click on
it to illustrate a submenu.
Merlot allows you to click on:
teaching,
people,
learning materials,
beyond merlot, or
showcase.
Member Directory
On Aug. 8, 2007, there were 48,994 members in the Member directory.
• Can search for
community members
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Subject
State
Interest
Title
Organization
Last Name
Date Joined
Etc.
Subject Based Content
On August 8,2007 there are 17,401 peer review learning materials
in the following academic disciplines:
• Browse by Subject
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Arts
Business
Education
Humanities
Mathematics &
Statistics
• Science &
Technology
• Social Sciences
Federated Search
• An important and useful
technology for MERLOT users.
• Allows searches for materials
from multiple partner
collections, instead of having
to search each one separately.
• Results are combined and
sorted by relevance, title, or
originating collection.
• Two forms of FS,
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general federated search
discipline-based federated
search (that corresponds to the
MERLOT editorial boards).
12 Learning Material Types
The materials are categorized as follows:
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Simulation: Approximates a real or imaginary experiencE.
Animation: Allows users to view dynamic and visual representationS.
Tutorial: Users navigate through electronic workbooks.
Drill and Practice: Requires users to respond repeatedly to questions.
Quiz/Test: Any assessment device intended to serve as a test or quiz.
Lecture/Presentation: Any material intended for use in support of in-class
lectures/presentations.
Case Study: Illustrates a concept or problem by using an example.
Collection: Any collection of learning materials such as web sites or subjects.
Reference Material: Material with no specific instructional objectives.
Learning Object Repository: A searchable database of at least 100 online resources.
Online Course: A material that is designed to be used in an online course.
Workshop and Training Material: Materials best used for the purpose of
teaching others about learning and teaching online.
Digital Libraries
• Increasing access to collections with other Digital
Libraries – Federated Search
– Edna (Australia)
– CAUSE (statistics)
– SMETE (sciences)
- ARIADNE (EU)
- COMPadre (physics)
- NSDL (Nat. Science)
• In the works:
– BEN/AAAS (biology)
- HEAL (health sciences)
– CLOE/EduSourceCanada
- LOLA (Wesleyan)
– ATHE (theatre – to build collection within MERLOT)
• Corporate library Services into MERLOT and
integrates with your INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS
– Exlibrus- Metalib
- Sentient Discover
• RSS Feeds: 220 unique requesters; WebCT, Bb, D2L
MERLOT could add access to 5,000,000 (?) materials
Locating Suitable Materials
• “Search engines tend to return a staggering number of
links, and evaluating search results for suitability and
quality can be extremely time consuming - often more so
than authoring a new Web page would have been. Not to
mention the fact that high-quality sites that are not highly
used or attuned to the search engine's way of seeing the
Web often fall through the cracks entirely. It's sometimes
quicker to reinvent the wheel than to find its schematics
online. Wouldn't it be nice to have a mechanism to
quickly find the best teaching materials for a given
subject, in a given discipline? “
» B. Knauff
3 Rs, Results, Relevant, and
Reviewed
1M+
results
237
results
Student Use of MERLOT
• 18% of members are students
“I was instructed by my college professor to join merlot and to review three
websites and pick my favorite. The webpages were setup in such a way that
you don't realize how much you are learning until you have completed the
"lesson"….. I found it much more effective to "view" the experiments rather
than merely hear about them. The videos and sound were excellent and I
appreciated the animation allowing me to move at my own pace. I was not
forced to move through too quickly…”
Angela Landsman
As of July 31st, there are 17,129 peer
review learning materials in the 7
academic disciplines.
Faculty Use of MERLOT
• “MERLOT is transforming the face of higher
education as we know it. Being a part of this
project is stimulating and every bit worth the time
and effort. We are building a first class digital
library and a strong community of practice at the
same time. MERLOT puts the focus on teaching
and learning.”
– Laura Franklin, Professor of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Northern Virginia Community College
NTC & BSU Use of MERLOT
• “MERLOT is transforming the face of higher education
as its resources can be used for any college or
secondary course.
• eLearners Advisor
The eLearners Advisor is a free, easy-to-use
assessment tool designed to evaluate a user's
preparedness for online learning.
• The 10 minute survey asks questions related to earning
an online education. The answers are instantly reviewed
to evaluate learner readiness for online college
education.
System Partner Use
• “MERLOT has been an excellent faculty
development initiative for a state system, since it
promotes collaboration and efficiency. It is a
unique organization, approaching common
issues and challenges in a way no others do.
MERLOT extends our reach and resources by
partnering with other systems, organizations,
and agencies. I don’t think we could accomplish
nearly as much if we tried to do these things by
ourselves.”
• Phillip K. (Phil) Moss, Assistant Vice Chancellor,
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
MERLOT: Levels of interaction
• User and Contributor
• Peer Reviewer and
Editorial Board
• International
consortium of
partners and affiliates
• 17,401 learning materials
• 226 recently added
materials
• 48,994 members
• 1,144 recently joined
User Interaction
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Browse/use content
Contribute content
Author content
Comment on content
Create related
content for use as a
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Teacher
Learner
Practitioner
Scholar
Peer Review and Editorial
Boards
• Follows the Peer
Review model of
scholarship
• Stringent process
• Peer Reviewers and
Editorial Boards are
supported by system
and campus partners
International Consortium
• Promotes:
– Collaboration,
community building,
faculty development and
scholarship
• Provides:
– Access to digital
libraries, expertise of
and interaction with
discipline experts, and
education technology
expertise from around
the world
Why Work with MERLOT?
• To create common means to individual ends.
• To get more than we will give.
• To have a fair share in decision making and
participation.
• To support and hold true to academic values.
• As a means to provide visibility, accountability
and sustainability.
• To promote quality of content and scholarship in
our system.
MERLOT: Special Initiatives
 Just to name a few:
Digital libraries
Virtual Speakers
Faculty Development
 Planned as consortium of online services and
tools that will
 provide an integrated search of learning objects for
individuals and educational institutions worldwide
provide a distributed network of learning objects that
meet quality standards.
share resources through a federated search, strategic
alliances and technical interfaces made once, but all of
GLOBE benefits from these partnerships.
Virtual Speakers Bureau-134 speakers
 Through the MERLOT Virtual Speakers Bureau, you can
search for, locate, and invite guest speakers to your
courses, professional development workshops, and
special online events. You can even use it to invite
content experts to visit your classes face-to-face.
 Browse Virtual Speakers Bureau:
 Arts (6)
Business (21)
Education (42)
Humanities (14)
Mathematics and Statistics (4)
Science and Technology (36)
Social Sciences (7)
How might this help all faculty?
 Faculty members—including adjuncts—in fifteen
disciplines contribute lesson plans, which are
then peer reviewed and rated.
 This can be especially helpful for an adjunct
faculty who is hired three weeks before classes
starts and is asked to make sure to include
technology in your teaching.
 Allows you to find good stuff quickly and use it
with confidence, because you can rely on the
evaluations that your peers have made.”
 In addition to serving as a resource, MERLOT
can also showcase all faculty work.
MERLOT: Faculty Development for
Partners
Annual train-the-trainer workshop.
Consultation services.
Participation in regional or individual
campus workshops.
MERLOT International conference session
devoted to faculty development.
2008 conference is in Minneapolis, MN.
Online course for faculty developers.
Check out the latest additions
 Great places to look
for latest additions
and best
conversations in your
disciplines.
Coming Soon
RSS Feeds to
D2L
ITeach Online Professional Development
Center
Minnesota Online
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.
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
MERLOT: Peer Review & Tenure
 Quick list of related articles from a last minute Google Search
 MERLOT’s Peer Review process and tenure by Dr. G. L. Hanley,
MERLOT/California State University
 The Chronicle of Higher Education: Working with Technology and Winning
Tenure http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2002/02/tenure/
 Web Contributions and Tenure Decisions by Marylaine Brock
http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib159.html
 Faculty Rewards in Digital Environments by Syllabus Institute (In Press)
http://www.campus-technology.com/article.asp?id=410
 Stakeholder Needs Assessment by eduSource Canada
http://www.edusource.ca/craw/RPT_Needs_Assessment08.htm
 MERLOT: A Model for User Involvement in Digital Library Design and
Implementation by Dr. F. McMartin
http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/Articles/v05/i03/McMartin/
 MERLOT Promises Effeciency and Quality Control by B. Knauff
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/spotlights/merlot.htm
 Engaging the Faculty by P.R. Hagner and C.A. Schneebeck
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/30/07879501/0787950130.pd
Remember….
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What access to education means to the
students, their families, their lifestyle, the community,
the economy …

“Five years ago I moved to a more rural area of North
Dakota...I thought my chances of ever getting a degree
were pretty much gone. Thankfully...Transcends and
Northwest Tech offered me the opportunity to get a degree
in nursing and I jumped at the chance. It hasn’t always
been easy—but nothing worth it ever is!...Distance
education offered me the chance to go back to school, the
chance to earn my degree, the chance at a better and
higher paying job, and the chance for a better life for
myself and my family. To be able to do all of these things
and still live where I am living is a wonderful thing and I
appreciate the opportunity!”
 --Jadene Ihla
“The illiterate of the 21st
century will not be those who
cannot read and write, but
those who cannot learn,
unlearn, and relearn.”
Alvin Toffler
“Rethinking the Future”
Future
Merlot: A Virtual Classroom
Merlot: An Innovative Approach
To Teaching Education
Where are we going to be in the Year 2010?