Accessing Quality Content: Understanding and Using MERLOT Gilbane Conference Regan Caruthers Office of the Chancellor, California State University April 11, 2007

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning & Online Teaching A free and open community for all who use, share, advise & evaluate online teaching and learning materials A free digital library of online teaching and learning materials that is open for all to use A consortium of higher education institutions, professional societies, digital libraries, corporations, and other organizations supporting educational improvement through technology

Today # of Materials in MERLOT 16,000+ “Persistence” 98.2% # of Peer Reviews Posted 2,000+ % of Materials Under Review 73% # of Members w/ Personal Collections 3,500+ Collection Metrics

People Metrics USERS: People who anonymously visit the MERLOT website. In 2005…. –Average 66,000+ Users per month MEMBERS: People who have registered themselves as members of MERLOT –43,000+ members, growing at about 1200 per month;student membership increasing 8,200 members WHO’S Using MERLOT? –Higher Ed Faculty, K-12 teachers, students, workforce development programs, life-long learners

Community Metrics MERLOT is a sustained consortium of higher ed institutions collaborative managed by its members Type of ParticipationNumber State System Level - $25K per year16 Campus Level - $6.5K per year10 Editorial Boards15+ Editorial Board Members100/163+ Administrative Team Members9

Increasing access to collections with other Digital Libraries –Edna (Australia)- ARIADNE (EU) –CAUSE (statistics)- COMPadre (physics) –SMETE (sciences)- Journal of Chemical Education –O’Reilly Media (IT)- Internet Scout (Workforce Dev) –NSDL (Sciences) Partnering with Higher Education Organizations –EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative- TLT Group –New Media Consortium- NASA-JPL –Carnegie Foundation- Nanotechnology Hub Partnering with Learning Management Systems –Blackboard- WebCT- Angel Learning –Desire2Learn- Moodle- Saki- Epsilon Technology Corporations supporting us –Sun Microsystems - Adobe-O’Reilly Media Our Other Partners

Today’s Services with Partners Institutional Strategy: Academic commons for engaging and serving the needs of multiple segments of your campus community Professional Development Strategies: Customizable services you bring home with minimal operational overhead Accountability: Making visible the hidden talents and expertise of your personnel Leadership projects that leverage the expertise and resources of our partners

Accelerate Delivery of Online Programs Phil Moss, Chancellor, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education “Tens of thousands of Oklahomans have completed more than two years of college, but have not finished a degree. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education have initiated a project to help citizens complete a bachelor’s degree through an innovative statewide approach involving public universities. Collaborative curriculum development, learning materials, faculty development, and technology will be important components in this effort to help working adults complete a degree. We will be institutionalizing use of MERLOT as a key tool in advancing this project.”

ROI Robbie Melton, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Educational Technology, “We have determined that our system investment for the resources provided by MERLOT, in terms of 24 x 7 professional development and accessibility to the learning objects, comes to around $3.00 for each of our faculty members who indicated that they used MERLOT. No one should be able to debate the cost effectiveness of this partnership”.

Moving From… Your Campus Community & Academic Success Mass = 1

To Here…. Mass = MERLOT Community Mass = Effective and Efficient Educational Practices to Change the World

Questions?? Comments??