1. January 2005MERLOT Reusable Learning Design Guidelines OVERVIEW FOR MERLOT Copyright 2005 Reusable Learning This work is licensed under a Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial 1.0 Creative Commons License (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0/).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0/

2. 2 January 2005MERLOT The Reusable Learning Project Goal: Increase the value and impact of the NSDL by increasing the reusability of its content Deliverables – Workshops – Web site (www.reusablelearning.org)www.reusablelearning.org – Reusable Design Guidelines (www.reusablelearning.org/guidelines)www.reusablelearning.org/guidelines – Suggested policies for collections – Impact through implementation Added Deliverables: – Examples and best practices – Learning content and opportunities

3. 3 January 2005MERLOT Who Wants to be a Reuser? Authors / Creators – Reuse content created by others (and themselves) – Repurpose and integrate content into their own work Instructors / Teachers – Reuse content that supports their pedagogy and learning objectives – Assemble content from multiple sources Students / Learners – Access content for learning – Want content that fits their situation and learning style

4. 4 January 2005MERLOT Reusability Factors – Author Perspective Can I find appropriate content? May I use or modify the content? Is the content any good? Is it right for my audience? Do the structure, look and feel work? Can I change them? Can I access it? Can I download it? Can I edit it?

5. 5 January 2005MERLOT Reusability Factors – Instructor Perspective Can I find appropriate content? May I use or modify the content? Does it fit my methods & goals? Can my students learn from it? Are the structure, look and feel suitable? Will it work on my computer? On my learners’ computers?

6. 6 January 2005MERLOT Reusability Factors – Learner Perspective Can I find appropriate content? May I use the content? Can I use just the parts I need? Can I go through it the way I want? Can I access it? Will it run on my computer? Does it provide what I need? Can I learn from it?

7. 7 January 2005MERLOT May I use the content? RIGHTS Can I access it? Will it run on my computer? INTEROPER- ABILITY Can I use just the parts I need? Can I go through it the way I want? DESIGN: STRUCTURE & PRESENTATION Does it provide what I need? Can I learn from it? DESIGN: CONTEXT & PEDAGOGY Can I find appropriate content? METADATA Reusable Design Guidelines

8. 8 January 2005MERLOT Reusability – Collection Perspective Can my users find what they need? May my content be used? Is my content good? Is it right for my audience? Is my content designed for optimal use? Can my content be used? RIGHTS INTEROPER- ABILITY CONTENT POLICIES QUALITY METADATA

9. 9 January 2005MERLOT Who are the guidelines for? Authors (developers, etc.) Maximize reusability by – Informing authoring & design processes – Defining requirements for tools Collections, digital libraries and librarians Support reuse and encourage reusable design by – Informing metadata, rights & content policies and practices – Suggesting requirements for interfaces – Providing information for contributors

10. 10 January 2005MERLOT Preliminary Evaluation of MERLOT Metadata – Merlot supports a rich metadata model Rights – Rights information should be more complete Interoperability – Some information is provided – We’d like to investigate this area in more detail Design for Reuse – How can we raise awareness of how to design for reusability among MERLOT contributors?

11. 11 January 2005MERLOT For Example - RIGHTS All resources should provide: – Links to terms of use – Links to a source for obtaining additional permissions Collections should make a small set of licenses available to contributors – The Creative Commons is the most frequently referenced source of such licenses. – Need a license selection and assignment service MERLOT currently supports a “Copyright and / or other restrictions” yes/no flag (see http://www.merlot.org/artifact/AddArtifact.po ) http://www.merlot.org/artifact/AddArtifact.po

12. 12 January 2005MERLOT Current MERLOT Rights Information When submitting resources When searching for resources

13. 13 January 2005MERLOT RIGHTS INFO IN SEARCH and SUBMISSION Rights information

14. 14 January 2005MERLOT RIGHTS INFO IN SEARCH RESULTS Rights information Link to detailed rights information

15. 15 January 2005MERLOT Creative Commons License Readable by humans Link to a version for the lawyers

16. 16 January 2005MERLOT For Example – DESIGN ISSUES General Terminology and Graphics Navigation Access to usage instructions, modification instructions, source code – Note that there are considerable additional requirements here if ADAPTATION of resources is supported (as opposed to ADOPTION of resources as-is)

17. 17 January 2005MERLOT BEFORE – Graphics and text specific to an educational level

18. 18 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – More general terminology and graphics

19. 19 January 2005MERLOT BEFORE – Learning Objects Not Self Contained Learning objects split over multiple, non- contiguous pages ----- Two learning objects start on same page Reference to an external text Explanations and solutions not linked to problems.

20. 20 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – Self contained learning object Problems grouped with solutions and separated into problem- solution blocks Direct link to reference information Solutions and explanations linked to problems

21. 21 January 2005MERLOT (Solution on Next Page)

22. 22 January 2005MERLOT BEFORE – Forced, embedded navigation Quiz not available until the end

23. 23 January 2005MERLOT BEFORE – Forced, embedded navigation Page forward and back navigation only

24. 24 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – User selects navigation path

25. 25 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – User selects navigation path

26. 26 January 2005MERLOT BEFORE – No Usage Instructions or Source Code

27. 27 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – Easy to find links to code and modification instructions

28. 28 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – Modification instructions and source files

29. 29 January 2005MERLOT AFTER – Source files available

30. 30 January 2005MERLOT Possible Actions A. Implement more complete rights options B. Evaluate current interoperability metadata C. Evaluate the need to more fully support Adaptation of resources – If there is a need, consider developing “sub- collections” with reusability characteristics supporting adaptation D. Disseminate Reusable Design Guidelines specifically for MERLOT contributors – What is the most effective way to do this?

31. 31 January 2005MERLOT What Next? New Reusable Learning web site – Current site supported research and workshop activities – New site designed to act as an information and learning resource on reusability and on how to apply the guidelines – Targeted for completion in Q1 of 2005 Provide 2 hour online seminar to MERLOT editors – More fully explain the Reusable Design Guidelines – Schedule for April? After the seminar, evaluate the possible actions