MERLOT Late Breaking News

MERLOT continually striving to improve the website.  See what new changes have been made ...

MERLOT shares resources and expertise online using Adobe® software for web-based collaboration, training, and publishing... A success story. For college instructors, MERLOT is an invaluable repository of reusable digital content and pedagogical services. For MERLOT, using a variety of Adobe software products to further its mission related to online teaching and learning is invaluable. Staff and content contributors use Adobe Dreamweaver® and Adobe Contribute® software to build and manage web portals—categorized by discipline and program areas—that house a broad spectrum of teaching and learning assets and resources. Adobe products are also used ... more ....

McGraw-Hill Higher Education and MERLOT Form Alliance To Enhance Online Content For Colleges Nationwide - McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a leading provider of electronic and print learning materials, and Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT), an international higher education consortium, have announced a strategic alliance intended to support MERLOT's Accelerating Development of Quality Hybrid and Online Courses initiative. The goals: to explore and evaluate strategies for blending publisher and open education resources, improve learning outcomes, and reduce the costs of course materials for students.... more ...

Laura Franklin, World Language Editor, recently published the chapter, "The Use of Online Resources in Foreign Language Teacher Education" in Preparing and Developing Technology-proficient L2 Teachers (2007), published by the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALIC). The chapter reviews a number of new media resources and instructional strategies that can be used for language instruction and demonstrate how information and communication technology and related strategies can also be used in foreign language methods programs. These user-friendly media include authentic video and audio, learning object repositories (e.g., Multimedia Educational Resource for Online Teaching [MERLOT]), assessment resources (e.g., the University of Minnesota’s Virtual Assessment Center), and the popular listserv FLTEACH.
Also included in the chapter is a discussion of online communities of practice for language professionals, language exchange programs, and blogging and shared bookmarking technologies found through sites like Technorati and del.icio.us. It will also look at research on emerging technologies in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Way to go, Laura!!!

California State University initiative singled out by Congress as a model for textbook affordability (June 2007) - California State University’s (CSU) “groundbreaking work” through its digital marketplace initiative was singled out last week in a Congressional study as a model for long-term solutions in textbook affordability. The report, Turn the Page: Making College Textbooks More Affordable, was delivered to Congress June 1 by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. On pages 22 and 40, MERLOT, praised as a digital library, and a strategy for reducing the cost of course materials for students.

Learning by Design: An Interview with Dr. Deborah Proctor (June 2007) Dr. Proctor is interviewed by Joe Landsberger, a consultant focusing on creating learning objects to help students prepare for courses in distance learning. Dr. Proctor is the co-chair of the MERLOT International Conference and eCurriculum Director for Academic Innovations/Minnesota Online. Look for her discussion of MERLOT on page 8 and 9.

Tips for Teachers (The Chronicle of Higher Education; The Wired Campus, June 8, 2007)
Many faculty members find it hard to connect with students and get them involved in classroom discussions. So the California State University system is leading a project, MERLOT ELIXR, to 96 produce videos of professors explaining how they changed their teaching methods to make students better understand academic material. For more informatoin on these videos and the ELIXR Project, go to http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/FIPSE_ELIXR.

Page needs to turn on textbook costs (USA Today, May 31, 2007)
A USA Today article outlining the findings of a federal advisory committee charged with finding ways to contain the rapid rise in college textbook costs recommends overhauling the textbook market to produce long-term results. In particular, it recommends the development of a collaborative "national digital marketplace" of texts available online that would be managed by colleges and universities. Faculty would peer-review the materials, instructors would select content for their courses, and students could purchase it in a range of formats. The committee suggested using a system already in use MERLOT as a starting point.
To read the article, go to http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-05-30-college-textbooks_N.htm?POE=click-refer. A full report was released June 1, 2007 at http://www.ed.gov/ACSFA

Technology Tool Pick of the Month - 11/06
Imagine that you are teaching a course on evolution  and genetics concept mapping. Your students are having difficulty grasping  gene variation and mutations; the key concept behind your lecture. You’re in  dire need of some fresh material to better help your students grasp this  obscure concept. Enter MERLOT. ... MERLOT is a free database of educational  material designed primarily for faculty in higher education. The power of this  site stems from resources, peer reviews, comments, and assignments submitted  by the MERLOT community. ...more ....

Educause 2006 Podcast with Sorel Reisman, MERLOT Managing Director
Listen to a conversation wtih Sorel Reisman as he explains the state of MERLOT and what the future holds for the web site.

Epsilen and MERLOT Webinar
This Webinar outlined the EPSILEN - MERLOT collaboration, demonstrating how MERLOT resources can be dynamically integrated into the Epsilen ePortfolio and course management system that provides the framework for the next generation of eLearning environment. MERLOT’s learning management system initiative was explained by Dr. Sorel Reisman (Managing Director, MERLOT); followed by an explanation of Epsilen – a collaborative teaching and learning environment by Dr. Ali Jafari.

Be sure to subscribe to the MERLOT Grapevine Newsletter, distributed to all MERLOT members four times a year. The most recent issue was distributed Summer 2007.

Working With Technology and Winning Tenure. An Interview with Bruce Mason, MERLOT Physics Editor and Associate Professor of Physics, University of Oklahoma. In the Chronicle of Higher Education, Colloquy Live, February 20, 2003.

We hope you are finding your visit to the new MERLOT website intersting and useful and easy to find all the new features. We welcome your comments or questions to the Webmaster at webmaster@merlot.org

revised 8/25/07 - bbs