MERLOT++World+Languages



= __MERLOT World Languages: How To Organize A Personal Collection__ = //**Purpose**//// : This module is designed to introduce new users to the features of the MERLOT World Languages collection and to demonstrate how to use MERLOT as a teaching resource. //  **Web Site URL: [] **  **1) ****DESCRIPTION **  **This module contains: ** ·  **a familiarization activity where the learner will watch and discuss a video ** **about MERLOT** · **a hands-on introduction to MERLOT where the learner will create a well-developed Member Profile ** · **a search activity where the learner will identify learning materials in his/her target language **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">a hands-on activity where the learner will create two short annotated Personal Collections in MERLOT. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msolist: Ignore;"> 2) ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">ACTIVITY ONE: Familiarization **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> //Rationale: Viewing the MERLOT video gives the learner a snapshot view of its many features and allows him/her to see and hear firsthand how faculty use MERLOT in teaching.// <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">·  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Go to the **MERLOT Home Page** and click on **About Us** (This is the last item on the navigation bar across the top.) <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">·  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">On the left navigation bar of the About Us page, click on **Media Center** and then MERLOT Videos and Podcasts. Under **General Information**, see an **Overview** video of MERLOT. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Choose the viewing format you prefer and watch the video online. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">After viewing the video, go back to the MERLOT home page and explore its contents a bit. <span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;"> **__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Write a short summary __**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> of the video contents, including but not limited to, the reasons for MERLOT’ s creation, a list of the features that it contains, the ways the instructors in the video are using it, and its potential use in your discipline. Related URL: []
 * Name of Resource: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching**

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msolist: Ignore;">3) ****<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">ACTIVITY TWO: Creating a MERLOT Member Profile **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">  <span style="font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbolmso-bidi-font-family; msolist: Ignore;">·  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Go to the **MERLOT Home Page** and click on **Membership.** (This is the link under the Log In area of the home page. Third column to the right) <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Fill out the MERLOT Membership form and get your password. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">·  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Once you receive your password, log into MERLOT by clicking **log in**. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">·  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">If you are not using your own computer, it is suggested that you do not have the computer remember you. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Once logged in, fill out your Member profile. Try to give as much detail as possible, particularly in the skills and expertise areas. You may want to look at some member profiles of other people in your field by searching the **Member Directory.** This activity is complete when the learner has a Member profile in MERLOT. Related URL: []

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> //Rationale: In order to find the materials that will help you in your teaching, it is important to review the various ways to search and browse the collection.// <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Go to the **MERLOT** Home Page and locate the **Search** field in the upper right corner. You are going to search for language materials, so type in your language and one other descriptor (ex. German grammar or German culture). <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· You will see the number of item matches at the top of the page. You will then find links to the objects, arranged ten per page. Click on the first title link. This will take you to a **Detail View** of the material. <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Notice on the **Detail View** that you can find a detailed description of the learning material and you can perhaps read a peer review of the material done by two content experts. You can also add the material to your own personal collection of learning materials or write an assignment based on the material by clicking **Add Assignment**. We will look at these possibilities later. <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Still on the **Detail View,** click on Location to see the learning material appear in a separate window. You can now spend a minute or so exploring the website that you read about in MERLOT. <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Let’s go back to the Search field and click the drop down box next to the Search field. This brings us to MERLOT’s **Federated Search**, where several Learning Object Repositories will be queried. Again, type in your descriptor (example: German language). If you did the example search, you have searched as many as three databases including MERLOT. Take a few moments to explore those sites. **__(To leave Federated Search click on Visit the main MERLOT, right under the Search field ion the upper right.)__** Related URL: []
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman'msoBidiFontFamily;">ACTIVITY THREE: Searching and Browsing for Learning Materials **

<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· You can also search for materials through the MERLOT portals. On the **MERLOT** home page, click on the grey **Communities tab** right below the MERLOT logo. If you are searching for language modules, click on the link for World Languages. This takes you into the **World Languages Portal** of MERLOT. You may want to peruse the page before going further. When you are ready to browse the collection, click on the books icon under **Learning Materials (the fourth column)** for a full description of our categorization scheme and how to use the browse feature. <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Before you leave the World Languages Portal, go back to its home page by clicking your Back button. Now look to the right and click the button for **New Materials.** On this page you have the last ten materials in World Languages to be added to MERLOT and the last ten peer reviewed sites. __To leave World Languages click on Visit the main MERLOT, right under the Search field ion the upper right.)__ <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· You can also **Browse the collection** from the **MERLOT Home** page. Click the grey **Browse Materials** tab to the right of Communities. Click on the little sideways triangle next to **Humanities.** Click on the little sideways triangle next to **World Languages**. Choose the language collection you would like to browse. As a wrap-up assignment for Activity 3, please search for a particular type of material in MERLOT. Related URL: []

//Rationale: In order to make efficient use of online learning materials, faculty need a mechanism to archive and annotate the collections of resources that they find for later retrieval.// <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Log into **MERLOT** by clicking log in on the home page. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Search for a language material (Example: Animated German Grammar) <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Look at the material **Detail View** and observe if it is in other Personal Collections, if it is peer –reviewed or if it has a learning assignment. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Click on the **Location** link to go right to the learning object. Explore the site. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Let’s try and put this in our new Personal Collection (Suggested collection title: German Language presentations) <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Go back to Detail View for the material that you want to add to your collection. Click the grey button on the box on the right that says **Add to a Personal Collection** <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In the first drop down menu**, select Add to New Collection.** <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In the box entitled **Your Annotation**, put in your Annotation for Animated German Grammar, click **Add Item.** <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">You will now be prompted to name the whole collection, not just this item. You will eventually want to build different collections and sort your finds differently. **(Example annotation: This collection contains presentations on German grammar suitable for the classroom)** <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Once you have annotated the collection and this item, you can **save and finish**. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">You can now use your MERLOT Search methods to look for other materials to put in the collection you have just created. You can also create new collections to suit your own needs. To complete this activity, please build two Personal Collections in MERLOT, each with a minimum of three annotated entries. These sites should be materials you will use in teaching. You may want one of them to be about a skill in your target language (reading, speaking, writing, listening) and the other to be about important generic topics that you will find in the Multilingual category of MERLOT World Languages (e.g. Assessment, culture) Related URL: []
 * ACTIVITY FOUR: Starting a MERLOT Personal Collection **

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 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Questions on this module may be directed to: Laura Franklin, Professor of French, Northern Virginia Community College and Editor MERLOT World Languages, lfranklin@nvcc.edu **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Updated December 9, 2009 **