Nancy Kerner, Brenda Gunderson, and more

The University of Michigan

Innovative Use of MERLOT

Outline

• The Challenge

• The Barriers

• The Proposed Solution

• The Outcomes

• The Impact

The Challenge

To improve undergraduate education by integrating quality cross-discipline and course-specific Learning Objects

(LOs) into undergraduate courses

What BARRIERS do you perceive to using technology in teaching or learning?

Don’t know how to implement

Extra work, little connection

Takes too much time

I spend too much time on it

Students don’t know how to use it

Don’t have tech support

Too complicated

Too expensive

I don’t have the skills

Doesn’t work on my computer

Low Barrier High Barrier

http://carat.umich.edu/carat/itsurs/2005_survey

The Proposed Solution

• Educate graduate students across disciplines to access, evaluate, design LOs; and to create quality course-specific and cross-discipline LO collections.

• Graduate students disseminate theseLO collections and designed LOs to relevant faculty for integration into undergraduate courses

The trainee becomes the trainer

The Proposed Solution:Unique Collaborative Approach

Graduate StudentTeacher(s)

Faculty/Staff Mentor(s)

+MERLOT

Faculty

• Interest in tech + pedagogy• Train to find and critically

evaluate online LOs• Train to author and package

LOs for classroom use

• MERLOT knowledgeable• Guidance on best

practices for enhancing teaching and learning

• Provide schedule of topics and concepts

• Provide insight on muddy points and desirable LOs

The Proposed Solution:Why MERLOT collaboration?

• LO resource growing exponentially • LO evaluation criteria• Grape Camp reviewer training• Ability to submit LOs and

create LO collections • Power of affiliation with a global

teaching and learning community

5. Produce MERLOT review6. Create course LO collection7. Training: designing LOs8. Implementation of LOs

The Proposed Solution:Training & Implementation Process

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

1

2

1.Introductions and start of monthly meetings2.UM workshops (Enriching Scholarship)3.MERLOT Grape Camp4.Interview Faculty regarding needs

78

56

4

3

45

6

Rushing is not an option

The Outcomes:Access, Evaluate, Start LO Collections

Months 3 and 4:• MERLOT Grape Camp completed• Faculty from targeted courses

interviewed regarding LO needs• LO course-specific collections

in process of being built

The Outcomes:Faculty LO Preferences (Psychology)

A Personal Collection of Peer Reviewed LOs

on MERLOT

An Innovative End of Term Assignment• Intro Psych students pick own “muddiest point”

• Student = para-peer reviewer found, reviewed, recommended LO to address muddiest point

• Students submitted mini-review of LO and recommendation for why and how to implement in course

Para-Peer Reviewers

The Outcomes:Unique Discipline-Specific Collection Building

The Outcomes:Unique Discipline-Specific Collection Building

Students recommended many quality LOspreviously overlooked or undiscovered

Pavlov’s Dog- A classical conditioning simulationCataloged in: Science&Technology/Biology/Zoology

Mouse Party- A simulation for examining the effect of common illicit drugs at the synaptic level Cataloged in: Science&Technology/Chemistry/Biochemistry

The Outcomes: Integration of Collections and Individual LOs

• Entire Collection available within course– Listing based on course objectives

– Provided within syllabus or on website

• Individual LOs integrated within course– Choice based on needs vs type of learning object

– Choice focused on LOs that address difficult concepts or skills

Collection Listing for Student Use in Course

Atomic Structure:

• First 11 Elements

• Interactive Discussion

• In Depth Discussion

• Interactive Presentation

Balancing Equations:

• Practice Calculator

Math:

•In Depth Discussion

Periodic Table:

•In Depth Discussion

• Interactive PT

• Interactive Trends

•Interactive PT

Bonding::

• Interactive Presentation

• Electron Density

• Structure of Matter

Water:

• Interactive Presentation

Chemistry 125 Background LOs

The Outcomes: IntegrationUsing The Imperfect LO (Statistics)

• Many excellent LOs have flaw (inconsistent notation, lack of directions) poor as standalone resource.

• How can an imperfect LO be incorporated into class?

• By “packaging” the resource, instructor can guide students’ interaction with imperfect LO.

18

The Excellent, But Imperfect LO from Statistics

The Outcomes: Integration Using The Imperfect LO (Statistics)

19

The Outcomes: Integration Using The Imperfect LO (Statistics)

The Packaged LOSee more tomorrow 10-10:30 San Simeon

The Outcomes: Design of Learning Objects

• LO Unavailable? Design an LO:– 1: Identify Curriculum Need– 2: Select Relevant Content– 3: Choose Type of Material– 4: Design LO Layout– 5: Create Layout Posters

• Produce the LO– Faculty/staff mentor or student studying programming

Some typical lectures….

Hurray for

Dynamics!

Quantumis

FUN Harmonic Oscillator Phase Space Free Particle Wavepacket Spread

But what

does the time

dependence look like?

The Outcomes: Integration Bringing Lectures to Life (Quantum Physics)

Created LOs to show what time dependence looks like

The Outcomes: Integration Making Homework Interactive (Quantum Physics)

Guided tutorial style homework

Created an LO and ‘packaged’ it into guided HW

See more tomorrow 10-10:30 Santa Clara

The Outcomes: Cross-disciplinary LO Collection

• Success in any course demands a solid foundation in a variety of basic academic skills

What exactly is a “research paper”?

The Outcomes: Cross-Disciplinary LO Collection

• Freshman typically have had little experience with writing a research paper

• Use of internet search engines often results in students citing unprofessional sources where anyone can post information

The Outcomes: Cross-disciplinary LO Collection

• Cross-discipline “seed” collection of 15 LOs –Collection built from common cross-discipline

(chemistry, psychology, and statistics) topics and LO choices

• 2nd Generation collection in development–Additional disciplines (math, languages,

physics, writing) provide input

The Impact

Intro Stats

3000 students

Intro Chemistry2900 students

Intro Psych800 students

Calculus I, II, III3000 students

Intro Physics1200 students

Spanish

200 students

Composition1500 students

Year One Total = 5100 students

Year One + Year Two = 12,000 students

Thank You to …

UM Team Members– Nancy Kerner– Brenda Gunderson– Brian Malley– Dave Childers– Jay Holden– Joel Vaughn– Porscha McRobbie – Kira Gallagher– Damian Khan– Noah Gardner– Tanya Breault– Adena Rottenstein

UM Support– Victor Wong– Lynne Crandall– Chase Masters

MERLOT

And YOU … for coming

Any Questions?