A taste of MERLOT: tutorial presentation

MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a free educational resource for educators designed primarily for faculty of higher education. Learning objects presented through MERLOT are peer-reviewed by discipline, giving the user a pedagogical insight into the academic value of the resource. MERLOT is a multi-disciplinary collection with "learning objects" in Arts, Business, Education, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences. Each category has several sub-categories such as Computer Science and Physics under Science and Technology. There are numerous possibilities for utilizing MERLOT's resources to enhance online and classroom instruction. Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT), http://merlot.org, is a collection of "learning objects" on the World Wide Web that refers (i.e. a referatory) users to useful internet sites. A "learning object" can be any animation, simulation, homework assignment, video, etc. that enhances the learning process. MERLOT is free and open to the public to use and to participate in by adding new learning objects, assignments, comments, etc. The material is highly granular in that a particular "learning object" can be used to help clarify one very specific concept as opposed to an entire subject or course. MERLOT adds value for teachers, learners, authors, and developers through search tools, shared experiences, editorial management, and peer reviews. In terms of searching, MERLOT allows one to locate a collection of "learning objects" on a specific topic in a more efficient manner than Google or other commercial search engine. Once the user has located some useful sites, they can create personal collections for any particular course. This collection will be stored on the MERLOT server. Furthermore, one can add comments about any site as well as homework assignments. One must be a member of MERLOT add materials or make comments but membership is free and easy. Membership is not mandatory to simply search the database. MERLOT is multi-disciplinary collection with "learning objects" in Arts, Business, Education, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences. Each category has several sub-categories such as Computer Science and Physics under Science and Technology. Most sub-categories have an editorial peer review board consisting of approximately 6 to 8 higher education faculty members in that field. The editorial boards will triage new materials that are submitted to MERLOT, contact the author about the prospect of review their material, and then assign two reviewers for each item. Afterwards, one of those peer reviewers will create a single composite review. The reviewing process addresses the Quality of Content, Ease of Use for Teachers and Learners, and Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool. The peer review is then sent to the author with some comments and then posted with the author's approval. For MERLOT members who are not on an editorial board, there are opportunities to post member comments for a particular learning object. Members can also contact the editor of their discipline's editorial board to become a volunteer peer reviewer.