Authoring Strategies within the MERLOT Community

Since its inception, MERLOT has focused on developing faculty and institutional support programs based on our online catalog and peer reviews that describe the highest quality of learning materials for our members and partners.   The MERLOT repository has sometimes been called a “referatory” because it contains descriptors (metadata) of learning materials that reside on Web-based servers around the world.    MERLOT has invited members to submit metadata about useful learning materials they discover on the Web or materials that they create themselves.  

MERLOT has never promoted any particular learning material development processes, but has often been asked for recommendations regarding methodologies and tools for instructors to use to create such learning materials. Due to the growing interest among MERLOT members in our direct support of material authoring, MERLOT supports the Content Builder, and encourages members with little experience in learning material authoring, who wish to become conversant in developing their own Web-based materials, to learn and use this system.

The table below contains options for other MERLOT-sponsored authoring tools.  The table is provided as guidelines for learning materials developers to consider; it does not in any way suggest that these are the best tools for any or all developers or learning materials. 

MERLOT supports a variety of tools to create Open Education Resources. Below we have listed some that can be used to develop such learning materials.

MERLOT Content Builder –a set of free, web-based tools that can be used by any registered MERLOT member to quickly create compact and engaging, MERLOT-hosted, Web-based learning materials.   The Content Builder has been adapted by MERLOT, from the Carnegie Foundation’s KEEP Toolkit, and integrated with www.merlot.org  in a fashion that allows instructors to create learning materials, make them publicly available if desired, and directly and easily define and contribute their metadata to the MERLOT repository.  More information about the MERLOT Content Builder is available at
http://taste.merlot.org/Programs_and_Projects/ContentBuilder.html 

SoftChalk Lesson Builder – is a leading provider of eLearning software for educational institutions worldwide. Specializing in the development of tools that are intuitive and easy-to-use, SoftChalk products allow instructors to create powerful and professional-looking content for eLearning classrooms in K-12, higher education, and corporate training markets. Developers can produce learning materials in SoftChalk via an integrated SoftChalk/MERLOT interface and then submit the metadata directly to the MERLOT repository. 

SoftChalk also provides special pricing programs for MERLOT Academic Partners, and unit discounts for registered MERLOT members.  More information about these programs can be found at http://taste.merlot.org/Programs_and_Projects/softchalk.html.

Pachyderm - an open source, server-based development system that grew from a partnership led by The New Media Consortium(NMC) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  More information about Pachyderm can be found at http://pachyderm.nmc.org/.  Pachyderm is the authoring tool used to create video stories for the MERLOT ELXIR project .  Pachyderm-developed learning materials can be catalogued in the MERLOT repository by registered members who make use of MERLOT ‘s Contribute a Material function that registered and  logged-in MERLOT members can access at www.merlot.org.

For more information please contact the MERLOT Webmaster at webmaster@merlot.org.

Modified 11/21/11 - BBS