What is a Volunteer Peer Reviewer?

Cathy Owens SwiftProject Manager – MERLOT Editorial Boards

Editor – Business Editorial Board

Professor of Marketing - Georgia Southern University

Jane Moore

Judy SwertkaPurdue University

MERLOT International Conference

July 26, 2005

Parties Involved in MERLOT

• Administration Team

• Institutional Partner (20)

• Faculty Discipline Teams (15)– Editors/Co-Editors (21)– Editorial Review Board Members (100)– Volunteer Peer Reviewers (>100)

• Others – Authors, Submitters, Users

Participation in MERLOT

• User

• Submitter

• Author

• “Volunteer” Peer Reviewer

MERLOT Editorial Discipline Boards

• Organized like journal editorial board– Editor (may be co-editors)– Board Members

• Associate Editors• Peer Reviewers

– “Volunteer” Peer Reviewers

Differences - MERLOT vs. Journal

• Evaluate teaching materials, not

research articles.

• MERLOT has Peer Review Tutorial

• Actual Peer Review appears on

MERLOT site, so can read what has

been evaluated

Editorial Boards• Physics

• Psychology

• Statistics

• Teaching & Technology

• Teacher Education

• World Languages

• Biology• Business• Chemistry• Engineering• Health Sciences• History• Information

Technology• Mathematics• Music

21 Editors90 Editorial Board Members100+ volunteers

Peer Reviews

Discipline Editorial Boards (faculty members):

• Adopt evaluation standards– Quality of content– Potential effectiveness for teaching & learning– Ease of use

• Develop peer review process• Develop roles and responsibilities as MERLOT

reviewers• Use MERLOT Worksites to sustain productivity

Review Criteria• Quality of Content

– Core to the discipline’s curriculum, e.g., lower division requirement– Content difficult to teach and learn– Prerequisite to more advanced learning

• Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool– Stage of of the learning process, ala Bloom– Learning objectives and outcomes– Target audience

• Ease of Use– Directions, user feedback, documentation, intuitive, attractive, etc.

Peer Review Process

1. Author submits item

2. Item triaged

No

3a. Peer Review 13. Cataloged w/out review

4. Reports consolidated – Editor

Worthy of review?

Yes

3b. Peer Review 2

5. Sent to Author

Review posted to MERLOT

Volunteer Peer Reviewer Qualifications

• be an instructor at an institution of higher learning

• demonstrate expertise in the discipline• be recognized for excellence in teaching• have experience using technology in

teaching, and • have participated in the activities of the

discipline.

Role of Peer Reviewer

• Evaluate interactive learning materials• Solicit and learning materials from their colleagues and contribute them• Contribute comments and assignments• Develop personal collections • Help develop the discipline’s learning community in collaboration with your professional organization

Benefits of Being Peer Reviewer

• Participation in Evaluation of Digital Scholarship

• Contribution to Discipline

• Learning how to Evaluate Modules

• Updating own Teaching

• Letter of Recognition

• Volunteer of the Year Award

Steps to Becoming Volunteer Peer Reviewer

1. Let someone know2. They contact Project Manager3. Project Manager notifies Editor of Discipline

Editorial Board4. Editor contacts potential Reviewer

1. Has person complete Peer Review Tutorial2. Reviews results with individual3. Assigns:

1. First module to review2. Assigns Mentor to individual3. Contacts on weekly basis to see how doing

4. Determines how frequently individual wants to review modules.

Tools We Use

• Peer Review Tutorial

• Workspace– Keeps track of what modules assigned– Can save work– Complete review online

Questions??

• Sign up right now.