Institutional Stewardship James Rutledge St. Petersburg College (Florida) MERLOT Department Collections

The Situation Many effective teaching/learning materials have been posted on the Internet in recent years. Faculty members are often unaware of their existence and value and/or how to easily locate them.

The Challenge How to enable and encourage faculty to make use of these interactive Web-based materials in order to enhance and improve student learning

The Solution—Part 1: Department Collections Pioneered the adaptation of the MERLOT Personal Collection service for departmental use by college faculty, both full-time and adjunct.

The Solution—Part 2: Disseminate Instructions Developed a set of instructions on how to establish these customized Department Collections at any educational institution. These instructions are posted on the MERLOT Mathematics portal under the Teaching column. – ment.html ment.html

MERLOT Award-winning Materials Seeded each collection with some MERLOT Classics and Editors’ Choice award-winning materials. Informed pertinent departments of the collections and how to make use of them.

Advantages of Department Collections Allow department faculty to add relevant MERLOT materials and annotations concerning their use Provide a sense of shared purpose and collaboration Encourage departmental use of high-quality, Web-based learning materials Provide adjunct faculty, in particular, with a department- specific set of relevant learning materials Provide a central location for department materials in large, multi-campus institutions

History 2004: First use of Department Collections at St. Petersburg College 2005: ULM and TNCC 2006: VCCS (Virginia Community College System) Since then, faculty at other institutions have expressed interest and some have created their own department collections.

Extent of Use Department Collections at the above-named institutions involve: – 9 department entities across a number of campuses – over 50 individual topic collections – over 260 MERLOT learning materials – nearly 100 learning materials authored by 18 faculty members at St. Petersburg College submitted to MERLOT through the college’s Department Collection entities

Results The impact on student learning is hard to measure; however, the collections have certainly helped to raise awareness of MERLOT and its Web-based resources. 24 of the 28 SPC faculty who have joined MERLOT since the collections were established have been members of a department with a Department Collection. At St. Petersburg College, 40 faculty, 8 staff and 971 students are currently members of MERLOT (January, 2008).

Change Isn’t Easy! Promoting educational innovation and change requires substantial amounts of effort and a good deal of persistence. Ongoing efforts are needed to inform faculty colleagues and administrators of the existence and value of the department collections as well as to promote and encourage their use. Methods: department and college-wide presentations, faculty discussion postings, personal contacts, annual reports, etc.

Instructions for Creating Collections MERLOT Personal & Department Collections – Collections.html Collections.html How to Create a Department Collection – ment.html ment.html

Institutional Stewardship James Rutledge St. Petersburg College (Florida) MERLOT Department Collections