"Retaining students is a number one priority in higher education. One way to improve overall retention is to reduce the withdrawal rate in on-line courses. The format of a course can have significant impact on student retention. Simply putting the same material that was used in an on-campus class on a web site and expecting the on-line students to learn at the same level as their on-campus counterparts is not logical. Distance learning requires a new pedagogy and alternative teaching tools to enable the learner to grasp material without the benefit of an instructor’s lecture.
On-line discussion boards are one way to provide interaction between instructor and students, and between students and students. Other forms of on-line learning can be used, however, to enhance the learning experience. Searching the Web for appropriate teaching materials and on-line simulations can be time-consuming and frustrating. The sheer volume of Web sites is overwhelming and a search that returns thousands of potential Web sites for a particular subject is enough to discourage anyone from trying to find Web-based materials for courses. Project MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is an effort to try and minimize the number of Web sites searched and provide a way to find quality instructional materials in a minimum of time.
Background and Purpose of Project MERLOT
Project MERLOT was initiated by faculty and administrators at several universities across the United States. The leaders for the project are located at California State University. The project was originally implemented by continuing an NSF project titled "Authoring Tools and An Educational Object Economy" at the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) of California State University. Because of the interest generated by the initial project, the CDL invited other institutions and higher education systems to participate in order to expand MERLOT. The project is currently sponsored by the NSF Digital Library Project and endorsed by NLII/EDUCAUSE.
The purpose of Project Merlot is to develop a place where faculty can share instructional materials for all forms of on-line teaching. Material on the MERLOT Web site can be reviewed and downloaded by anyone, at no cost. Downloads are not limited to university faculty. This unlimited access provides the opportunity for more faculty and instructors to become involved in on-line teaching without "reinventing the wheel" each time the same topic is taught. Of course, this means that contributors must agree to allow their material to be use by other faculty.
Currently, 12 disciplines are included in the MERLOT project including Biology, Business, Chemistry, Foreign Languages, Health Sciences, History, Information Technology, Mathematics, Music, Physics, Psychology, and Teacher Education. The sites listed in each discipline are reviewed and rated by a team of faculty reviewers for that discipline. The faculty who were chosen as reviewers have been identified as outstanding educators in their discipline and have demonstrated expertise in using the Internet as part of their courses."