You had me at Merlot
But not really…I just thought it was a catchy title. I decided to check out this Open Education Resource, and give it a once over. This repository was not particularly appealing to me upon first glance. The main graphic design includes a merlot colour but it is clearly laid out with headings and subheadings. I was not sure where I needed to look first, but I decided to peruse the history of Merlot and how it is maintained and funded. I love the OER concept, but there has to be a generated income to sustain repositories and employees. I was determined to find this information.
I looked through each heading and a few sub-headings, but there were so many. I finally narrowed it down according to what I wanted to search and learn about. This is the home page:
As you can see not super attractive but full of information. The next is a bit of the history of Merlot, and from searching many places within it, it makes sense that it has been around for a long time given the wealth of information to sort through, including resources for pre-K children to adult learners.
It appears to be quite organized but I was finding myself looking for something that was not readily available. I think I was hoping for a huge icon that flashed, “Teacher Resources” right here! I soon realized that this site is more about sharing information and providing resources for people of all ages, than a site for people to find a quick idea or activity. I have read many interesting posts in our class about OER and the ever growing Teachers Pay Teachers site. I have been contemplating as to why I love TPT. I do not go there often, but if I am in need of a new idea or a way to re-create or revamp an old activity, I look on TPT. I decided to check out the website thoroughly so I could have something to compare the Merlot site with, besides one selling resources and the other sharing freely. This is the TPT blog that explains their philosophy and highlights current issues and certain activities.
I can attest that many teachers spend countless hours creating attractive, interesting, curriculum aligned resources for a profit. What I have found and used, I could NOT create in the time that I have. The problem I have with the site, or with people using the TPT resources, is you need to vet them and make certain they align with our outcomes and indicators. I fear new teachers often use activities without thinking it through and assume that they must be approved resources to be on TPT. This is not true. TPT has had some trouble with resources that have been racist and contain certain bias’. Merlot has a team that vets the resources. This takes a HUGE amount of time and funding. You would think TPT could afford to do this!
Now in learning about how they fund Merlot, I found this interesing:
Below is another interesting tidbit… if you become a Merlot partner, you get some perks. Does anyone see any potential problems with this??
I found this article titled The Battle Between Teachers Pay Teachers and OERs – The Atlantic. It is worth the read!
So as I continued to drink the Merlot, I found that I definitely needed to narrow down some of my searches and use the filter option. I focused on Math. Our school division uses Mathletics and pays an enormous amount of money per school, and each user. I have a love/hate relationship with Mathletics. So I began my search for similar math resources that could challenge students in a similar way but without the cost. I found these resources and many are awesome activities, for all age groups!
When you click on each icon a wealth of activities shows up:
The difference with this OER and Mathletics is the data collection piece and real time methods of seeing who has completed the activities and the flexibility of assigning certain activities according to student levels and their progression of outcomes. The ease of using Mathletics is so attractive. However these are amazing resources too!
All in all, Merlot is good. There is so much more to explore on the site, including adult courses, journal articles, case studies, tutorials, social networking tools, and presentations. It is easy to sign up, pick and choose your pedagogical discipline and interests, and student age groups. I just wish it were a bit more up-to-date in its look and ease of use.
If anyone else checks it out, please let me know your thoughts!
About The Author
Lynnette Farris
Welcome to my blogging journey! I am a leader in education, a Mom, wife, and a learner. I have previously worked with Saskatoon Catholic Schools and I am currently a Vice-Principal with Regina Catholic Schools.
Lynnette,
Very thoughtful post! I thought the same about the name, “Merlot!” This year our school moved away from Mathletics! To be most honest, I kind of miss it… As you said, it is great for tracking student progress and adjusting levels based on student need. It is also very easy to use, but so incredibly expensive! This year I am using Prodigy with my students. They love it, as it is very “gameified,” but I’ve been having some issues when tracking student progress and checking their assignments. I would also recommend Knowledge Hook! I almost wish I would have gone with this instead of Prodigy, but completely forgot about it until chatting with a colleague. I’ve heard great things about it!
I looked at OER Commons and I would almost say the opposite from my experience! I felt like I needed to broaden my search, as specific resources regarding a novel study were nowhere to be found. However, when I looked up parts of speech, I got tons of hits.
Well done Lynnette! I’ll have to add Merlot to my list of OERs!
Thanks for the commentary, Lynnette. I took a brief look at Merlot before deciding to examine CK-12. I had the same thought as you – maybe it is because of my lack of knowledge and experience with OERs – but I was expecting a bright and shiny Teachers find resources right here button as well. CK-12 has their categories/subjects/grade levels front and center in both the Student and Teacher versions. This was something I liked, simply for the fact that if I am looking for resources, I want to find what I am looking for as quickly as possible without having to spend time having to figure out how to navigate the website to find them. It looks like once you are into a subject area, it is laid out very similar to CK-12. As always, there is much more to explore and learn about these great resources.
Everything takes so much time to sift and sort through. I find that once I become dependent on a resource and it works for me that tends to be my ‘go-to’. When I actually have time to sit and search, I find so much. That is why I have enjoyed this class. It created the time for me to learn, search, and see from others what works and what doesn’t.
I agree Leigh! Mathletics is such a money maker and many schools and teachers are becoming so dependent on them! Do you remember Accelerated Reader (AR)? This was another crazy expensive resource that I found SUPER valuable in the classroom, but students either loved it or hated it. I don’t know what the right answer to these types of resources is…we just need to keep searching for ideas and tools that can reach similar outcomes.
I agree Leigh! Mathletics is such a money maker and many schools and teachers are becoming so dependent on them! Do you remember Accelerated Reader (AR)? This was another crazy expensive resource that I found SUPER valuable in the classroom, but students either loved it or hated it. I don’t know what the right answer to these types of resources is…we just need to keep searching for ideas and tools that can reach similar outcomes.
CommentYou have made some great observations here! I often think about my discussion with teachers about identifying the skills being taught with a learning activity. Many teachers select things from Teachers Pay Teachers but have not spent time understanding how an activity aligns or supports the teaching of specific skill or curricular outcome. I love that the resources are peer reviewed. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a provincial OER that aligned teaching resources with the Saskatchewan curriculum and was vetted by Saskatchewan teachers.
That would be amazing! In hindsight, wouldn’t it have been just perfect to team up to create this OER for educators in our province??
Okay, your title is the best! When looking through the possibilities I also thought that it may be something worthwhile to look into just because of the great name. You did a great job of including a lot of the possibilities, and it looks to me like I need to look more into this one. I looked into OER Commons and I found it tricky to use for my grade level. Thanks for the extensive review, this is one that I maybe need to check out here!