MERLOT Award Winners - 2011

The MERLOT Awards program recognizes and promotes outstanding online resources designed to enhance teaching and learning and to honor the authors and developers of these resources for their contributions to the academic community.

Each of the MERLOT Editorial Boards selects an outstanding resource from its discipline to receive the MERLOT Classics award.  The winners of the 2011 awards were honored with a ceremony at the Emerging Technologies Symposium, jointly sponsored by MERLOT and Sloan Consortium on July 12, 2011 in San Jose, California. 

Six of the award winners were able to accept their awards at the Emerging Technologies conference in San Jose, CA.

Pictured left to right, Gerry Hanley (MERLOT), Shoko Hamano (World Languages), Beth Chance and Allan Rossman (Statistics), Franz-Josef Elmer (Physics), Kimberly Bonner (Library and Information Sciences), Lou Zweier (Faculty Development) and Susan Moncada and Michael Seda (Business).

Biology

Biological Animations and Tutorials - Sumanas, Inc

This site has numerous animations covering the common topics of an introductory Biology course. The most complete animations have a step-through mode with text descriptions of each step in the animation, a narrated version of the animation, and two to four multiple choice quiz questions at the end.

Business

Processing Integrity Challenge - Susan Moncada -Indiana State University and Michael Seda - Shaw University

The Processing Integrity Challenge makes use of game theory to help students learn how to determine relevant application controls for accounting systems to ensure processing integrity is achieved. It specifically addresses source data, data entry, processing, and output controls.

English

The Blake Archive - Morris Eaves - University of Rochester

This archive provides a comprehensive collection of digitized primary documents representing the work of William Blake as well as scholarly articles about Blake and his work. The archive supports use in the literature classroom as well as academic research, and it allows teachers and researchers to examine Blake's poems in the visual context within which he published them.

Faculty Development

MERLOT ELIXR: Sharing Faculty Stories of Exemplary Teaching - Tom Carey - University of Waterloo, Lou Zweier - CSU Center for Distribute Learning, and Season Eckadrt - CSU Office of the Chancellor

The MERLOT ELIXR project is intended to develop and test new collaborations amongst faculty development centers and online resource repositories. The goal is to create innovative models for the development, sharing and use of discipline-oriented resources which illustrate exemplary teaching practices and which also support faculty with exemplary learning objects to help implement those practices with their students.

History`

Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga - Arctic Studies Center - Smithsonian Institute

This website has been produced by the Smithsonian Institution to highlight a major new exhibit on Viking exploration of the North Atlantic prepared for the millenary commemoration of Lief Eriksson’s Vinland landing. But it provides a broad overview of the Vikings and their great expansion across northen Europe and the Atlantic during the 9th and 10th centuries with an eye toward revising the common perception of Vikings as barbarian despoilers.

Information Technology

Linux Survival - Calydon Tech, Inc.

This is an interactive tutorial to learn the basics of Linux operating system. The tutorial is composed of four modules, which need to be downloaded separately. These modules are intended as a quick way to get started using Linux in a simulated environment where the learner has particular goals to meet.

Library and Information Services

VAIL (Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory) Tutorial - Kimberly Bonner - University of Maryland University College, Olga Francois - UMUC, and Kimberly Kelly University of Wisconsin - Parkside. 

The VAIL Tutor (Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory)is a four module tutorial that provides an overview of academic integrity and plagiarism. It introduces the learner to documentation styles, provides tips on avoiding plagiarism and discusses plagiarism policies. A printable certificate of completion is available.

Mathematics

Exploring Multivariable Calculus - Paul Seeburger - Monroe Community College

Exploring Multivariable Calculus is an excellent tool which a student can use to visualize surfaces in 3D. A student can enter up to four equations where some of them can be in another coordinate system such as cylindrical or spherical or even implicit.

Physics

The Pendulum Lab - Franz-Josef Elmer - University of Basel

This is a virtual laboratory where you can do hands-on experiments at rigid pendula. Together with the material presented in the lecture room, you can learn basic issues like harmonic oscillator and resonance but also advanced topics like parametric resonance, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos.

Statistics

Rossman/Chance Applet Collection - Allan Rossman and Beth Chance - Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo

This is an extensive collection of java applets that focus on topics related to probability and statistics. There are currently 28 applets in the collection, and the applets are designed to illustrate topics such as data analysis, sampling distributions, probability and inference, randomization distribution simulations, and mathematical models.

Teacher Education

Cool Tools for Schools - Lenva Shearing - Bucklands Beach Intermediate School

This site is a wiki that is designed as a Web 2.0 Tools database with direct links to provide quick access for students and teachers. There are currently 18 different categories that hold several hundred different Web 2.0 tools.

Technical Allied Health

Thyroid and Parathyroid Glands - Richard Bowen - Colorado State University

This is part of a much larger site on the pathophysiology of the endocrine system, again part of Biomedical Hypertexts. It is organized on multi levels from core to advanced to supplemental topics.

World Languages

Visualizing Japanese Grammar - Shoko Hamano and Wakana Kikuchi - George Washington University

This site offers 66 units of various grammatical structures ranging from basics such as “counters”, to advanced units such as “adversity passive” in flash files with audio explanation in English and 12 Powerpoint downloadable appendices. Each unit consists of 5-10 minutes of presentations depending on the topic.

7/12/11 - CS