July 2002

ISSN 1537-5080

Vol. 16 : No. 7< >

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STATE AND INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE

Merlot International Conference 2002

Academic Approaches to Technology
Content, Collaboration, Collections, and Community

September 27-30, 2002
Atlanta, GA

Merlot is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students in higher education. MERLOT helps faculty enhance instruction with a continually growing collection of online, reviewed learning materials and assignments. MERLOT is also a community of educators who strive to enrich teaching and learning.

The second annual MERLOT International Conference will be held at the Marriott, Atlanta Georgia, September 27 - 30, 2002. MERLOT is endorsed by NLII/EDUCAUSE and the NSF - National Science Digital Library Program.

AUDIENCE

The target audiences are faculty members and those involved in administering and supporting instructional technology.

Faculty	Faculty Development Professionals
Instructional Designers	Members of Professional Organizations
Provosts, Deans, Department Chairs	Authors of Instructional Materials
Technical Support Specialists	MERLOT Users and Potential Partners
Librarians	Authors of digital learning materials

CONFERENCE GOALS
The MERLOT International Conference is the venue for learning about shared content, peer reviews, learning objects, standards, and online communities by:

Showcasing how authors and faculty use MERLOT learning materials in their classrooms
Enabling discipline communities to share information on teaching and learning with web-based materials
Identifying, using and evaluating digital learning materials in practical, hands-on workshops
Promoting discussions among shared content providers
Sharing information on various technology tools for teaching and learning
Providing a forum for presentations by organizational affiliates and institutional partners of MERLOT
Disseminating information about MERLOT

CONFERENCE TRACKS
The MERLOT International Conference is the venue for learning about shared content, peer reviews of learning materials, using standards to develop and select materials and develop online communities like MERLOT.

The larger conference theme of "Academic Approaches to Technology: Content, Collaboration, Collections, and Community" will be carried out through the interrelated tracks described below. Sessions will take the form of individual presentations, panels, practical demonstrations, poster sessions and hands-on workshops.

Instructional Showcase:

Demonstrations of what faculty and authors are doing with MERLOT in their classrooms. Topics might include: student learning outcomes, student satisfaction, resources and how they are integrated, exemplary lesson assignments, learning assignments for online material, and best pedagogical practices.

MERLOT — Past, Present, Future:

Presentations about developing and sustaining MERLOT activities. What are the benefits and obligations for MERLOT partners? How are MERLOT's business models and policies evolving? Topics might include: collections development, peer review processes, affiliations with professional organizations, MERLOT community development, tools for web-based communities, procedures, policies, and standards.

Technology and Standards:

Practical examples of how to develop and deploy learning materials from the experiences of authors, academic support, and faculty. Topics might include: MERLOT search and browse functions, instructional technology evaluation, IMS and SCORM metadata standards, designing for accessibility, technical issues, and licensing/copyright issues.

Tricks & Tips from the Vineyards for Authors and Developers:

Presentations about developing or authoring learning materials for MERLOT. What are the effective strategies used to develop good instructional software? How can MERLOT support the needs of novice to expert authors and developers of learning materials? Topics might include: designs for multiple users, design driven by learning outcomes, formative evaluation of learning materials, accessibility, and tagging learning materials.

Building Sustainable Online Communities in MERLOT:

Demonstrations and presentations of best practices in developing and sustaining online communities. What are the requirements for creating, growing, and sustaining online communities such as MERLOT? What do other major shared content communities have in common with MERLOT? Are there online learning communities that have adopted MERLOT as a strategy for discipline-based activities? Topics might include: knowing your audience, determining their needs, facilitating and sustaining online learning communities.

Faculty Development Recognition and Rewards:

Presentations and demonstrations of faculty and professional development programs that work. What do instructors need to know and be able to do to use MERLOT effectively? How are faculty rewarded for their digital scholarship? What is digital scholarship? How to you measure or document it? What do discipline-specific professional organizations believe are critical components in their constituents' successful incorporation of instructional technology? Topics might include: effective training programs for instructors, accreditation issues, standards validation, promotion and tenure considerations for digital scholarship, and evolving institutional standards.

More than MERLOT:

MERLOT is one of a growing number of digital libraries that serve faculty and students. What are these digital libraries, and how are they used? How do these libraries interface with traditional campus libraries? What is the role of digital libraries in teaching and learning? Topics might include: other digital library initiatives, economic models for online digital libraries, collection development in digital libraries, copyright, and intellectual property, etc.

For additional information, go to the Merlot International Conference website at: http://taste.merlot.org/conference/