Online Instructional
Resources for the Classroom
Overview
MERLOT's
Mission: to
improve the effectiveness of teaching and 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 -- Multimedia Educational Resource for Online Learning
and Teaching?
- MERLOT
is an international cooperative for high quality online resources
to improve learning and teaching within higher education.
- MERLOT
is a dynamically designed, web-based software tool - (www.merlot.org)
- to support the development of teaching and learning communities,
collections, services, and research in higher education. The
resources in MERLOT include:
- links
to thousands of learning materials
- sample
assignments, which show how the materials could be used
in the classroom
- evaluations
of the learning materials by other individual users and
panels of faculty
- links
to people with common interests in a discipline and in teaching
and learning
- MERLOT
is also a community of people who strive to enrich teaching
and learning experiences.
NOTE:
You do not have to register as a member to use MERLOT. If you want
to contribute learning materials, comments, or assignments to MERLOT,
then you must become a member. To become a member, simply click
on Member Directory from the main navigation bar and fill in the
membership information.
Reality Check
Key Benefits
to Faculty
- As a contributor
to MERLOT, faculty may have a way to gain recognition and credit
for their instructional materials as well as their scholarship
in teaching and learning in a peer-reviewed venue.
- Free access
to a large collection of high quality, online teaching and learning
materials as well as some information to help evaluate the quality
and appropriateness of the resource for their students and learning
objectives, and examples of assignments that other faculty have
used with the resource.
Pedagogical Issues
The following
are some examples of how faculty have found MERLOT useful in their
courses:
- As an
in-class demo
- For out-of-class
assignments
- To supplement
labs (where unable to do so otherwise)
- Parts
of complete online course
- Extra
credit work
Small sample
of websites from different discipline communities that are referenced
in MERLOT:
There
are actually 4 distinct websites within MERLOT:
- MERLOT
main site: browse collection by subject or search
- There
are currently 13 Discipline Communities that have special status
in MERLOT and each of those communities occupies a separate
website.
- T.W.O
(Teaching Well Online) - contains materials specific to online
teaching and learning.
- CATS
(Academic Technology Staff) - contains materials specific to
staff who support faculty.
NOTE:
If you find yourself in one of these sub websites and cannot find
your way back to the main MERLOT site, click on the MERLOT logo
located on the bottom left of each screen.
Technical Issues -
N/A
Hardware/Software
- Web browser
and internet connection
GMU Support Services
References
http://www.merlot.org
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