What is a Volunteer Peer Reviewer?

1. What is a Volunteer Peer Reviewer? Cathy Owens Swift Project Manager – MERLOT Editorial Boards Editor – Business Editorial Board Professor of Marketing - Georgia Southern University Jane Moore Judy Swertka Purdue University MERLOT International Conference July 26, 2005

2. 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

3. Participation in MERLOT • User • Submitter • Author • “Volunteer” Peer Reviewer

4. MERLOT Editorial Discipline Boards • Organized like journal editorial board • Editor (may be co-editors) • Board Members • Associate Editors • Peer Reviewers • “Volunteer” Peer Reviewers

5. 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

6. Physics Psychology Statistics Teaching & Technology Teacher Education World Languages Biology Business Chemistry Engineering Health Sciences History Information Technology Mathematics Music Editorial Boards 21 Editors 90 Editorial Board Members 100+ volunteers

7. 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

8. 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.

9. Peer Review Process 1. Author submits item 2. Item triaged Worthy of review? No 5. Sent to Author Yes 3b. Peer Review 2 3a. Peer Review 1 3. Cataloged w/out review 4. Reports consolidated – Editor Review posted to MERLOT

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

14. Steps to Becoming Volunteer Peer Reviewer • Let someone know • They contact Project Manager • Project Manager notifies Editor of Discipline Editorial Board • Editor contacts potential Reviewer • Has person complete Peer Review Tutorial • Reviews results with individual • Assigns: • First module to review • Assigns Mentor to individual • Contacts on weekly basis to see how doing • Determines how frequently individual wants to review modules.

15. Tools We Use • Peer Review Tutorial • Workspace • Keeps track of what modules assigned • Can save work • Complete review online

16. Questions?? • Sign up right now.