MERLOT 101 Spring 2009 - Week 2 (Peer Review) - Assignment 1

[Cathy Swift]

1. Why Be a Peer Reviewer for MERLOT?
Michelle Kunz is the Associate Editor of Marketing for the Business Editorial Board. (I'm very proud of her). This past year she did 8 Individual Reviews and 41 Composite Reviews for MERLOT.

Elizabeth is a Peer Reviewer for the World Languages Editorial Board. I know that Laura (her Editor) thinks very highly of her.

They share some of their ideas of what peer reviewing means to them. They both won Volunteer of the Year awards from MERLOT in 2007.

Please watch this short video clip (about 3 mins): http://taste.merlot.org/Videos/MIC_07_PeerReviewers.html

Then answer the question: What do you think you would like about peer reviewing teaching materials?

[Sstephany Head]

The ability to provide value to my peers, and to the overall content of Merlot.

[Cathy Swift]

I think you would enjoy the community and discussion that takes place with people involved in peer review. Additionally, I'll mention the MERLOT International Conference in August as a great place to mingle with peers: http://conference.merlot.org/2009/

[Zdenka Jarvis]

I think the biggest asset of becoming peer reviewer is that it allows you to keep current with teaching materials. And also gives you the opportunity to be involved in the selection process. There is difference between good expert and good teacher. Sometimes the book or web page can be very informative and useful for teacher but is completely useless to student. Just from the plain fact that the student does not have background, that's why they are students.

[Cathy Swift]

Excellent points, Zdenka. That's why we insist that our Peer Reviewers be instructors at an institution of higher learning. I agree with your point about the information being useful for students.

[Cathy Swift]

By the way, have you tried the Romanian translation of the MERLOT site? I'd be interested in hearing what your impression is of the translation.

[Zdenka Jarvis]

I haven't. I'm czech and have no clue about romanian language. Sorry.

[Mahmut Tamersoy]

Peer reveiewing looks like a good opportunity to:
1. Keep current in one’s field of interest.
2. Establish a formal evaluation process of teaching resources.
3. Help accumulating better quality teaching reasorces.
4. Help increasing the quality of teaching through better quality resources.

[Cathy Swift]

Many of our Peer Reviewers say that it helps them improve their own teaching. Seeing how someone else prepares materials can provide a different slant on course content for them. I'm also always amazed at how much work people put into developing their course content.

[Christina Bonner]

Like Zdenka, I think that peer reviewing would be a great professional development opportunity. It would also be a way of contributing, of giving back, to peers who have created materials and are devoting time to share those with all of us.

[Cathy Swift]

Christina, if you're interested in becoming a Peer Reviewer, you can read more about it at: http://taste.merlot.org/peerreviewer.html
Please consider registering for our next GRAPE Camp that starts April 1st. There will be another one in June, too, but I don't have the dates yet.

[kenn pitawanakwat]

I like the idea of picking and choosing peer reviews based on availability. And I am now curious as to which materials might exist out there to suit my particular needs. Kenn Pitawanakwat