Institutional Stewardship

James Rutledge

St. Petersburg College (Florida)

MERLOT Department Collections

rutledge.james@spcollege.edu

The Situation

• Many effective teaching/learning materials have been posted on the Internet in recent years.

• Faculty members are often unaware of their existence and value and/or how to easily locate them.

The Challenge

• How to enable and encourage faculty to make use of these interactive Web-based materials in order to enhance and improve student learning

The Solution—Part 1: Department Collections

• Pioneered the adaptation of theMERLOT Personal Collection service for departmental use by college faculty, both full-time and adjunct.

The Solution—Part 2: Disseminate Instructions

• Developed a set of instructions on how to establish these customized Department Collections at any educational institution.

• These instructions are posted on the MERLOT Mathematics portal under the Teaching column. – http://

mathematics.merlot.org/TeachingPCDepartment.html

MERLOT Award-winning Materials

• Seeded each collection with some MERLOT Classics and Editors’ Choice award-winning materials.

• Informed pertinent departments of the collections and how to make use of them.

Advantages of Department Collections

• Allow department faculty to add relevant MERLOT materials and annotations concerning their use

• Provide a sense of shared purpose and collaboration• Encourage departmental use of high-quality, Web-based

learning materials• Provide adjunct faculty, in particular, with a department-

specific set of relevant learning materials• Provide a central location for department materials in large,

multi-campus institutions

• http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewPortfolio.htm?id=98745

History

• 2004: First use of Department Collections at St. Petersburg College

• 2005: ULM and TNCC• 2006: VCCS (Virginia Community College

System)• Since then, faculty at other institutions have

expressed interest and some have created their own department collections.

Extent of Use

• Department Collections at the above-named institutions involve: – 9 department entities across a number of

campuses– over 50 individual topic collections – over 260 MERLOT learning materials – nearly 100 learning materials authored by 18

faculty members at St. Petersburg College submitted to MERLOT through the college’s Department Collection entities

Results

• The impact on student learning is hard to measure; however, the collections have certainly helped to raise awareness of MERLOT and its Web-based resources.

• 24 of the 28 SPC faculty who have joined MERLOT since the collections were established have been members of a department with a Department Collection.

• At St. Petersburg College, 40 faculty, 8 staff and 971 students are currently members of MERLOT (January, 2008).

Change Isn’t Easy!

• Promoting educational innovation and change requires substantial amounts of effort and a good deal of persistence.

• Ongoing efforts are needed to inform faculty colleagues and administrators of the existence and value of the department collections as well as to promote and encourage their use.

• Methods: department and college-wide presentations, faculty discussion postings, personal contacts, annual reports, etc.

Instructions for Creating Collections

• MERLOT Personal & Department Collections– http://mathematics.merlot.org/

TeachingPersonalCollections.html

• How to Create a Department Collection– http://mathematics.merlot.org/

TeachingPCDepartment.html

Institutional Stewardship

James Rutledge

St. Petersburg College (Florida)

MERLOT Department Collections

rutledge.james@spcollege.edu