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Volume 10, Number 1: October 29, 2003

MERLOT Awards for
Exemplary Online Learning Resources

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MERLOT, an online repository of links to peer-reviewed learning materials for higher education, has presented its 2003 Awards for Exemplary Online Learning Resources. The award recipients exemplify outstanding contributions in twelve of MERLOT's disciplinary communities. All of the honored sites encourage some form of interaction among teachers: most offer suggestions for implementing their resources in the classroom and solicit feedback, and some host online discussions and forums for users. This month, TTT highlights a few of our favorites.

Who Killed William Robinson? is a history mystery that introduces students to historical methods, prompting them "to interpret the raw material of the past and to ask the larger questions like, how do we know what happened in the past?" Created by a pair of Canadian professors, the website displays hundreds of authentic images and documents related to an actual 1868 murder investigation. William Robinson, a black man who migrated from the U.S. to a small island in British Columbia, was the victim. A Native American named Tshuanahusset was charged, convicted, and ultimately executed for the crime. Modern investigators disagree about what actually happened, but no one can dispute the complexities of the case. Who Killed William Robinson? is an exercise in critical thinking that provokes users to contemplate the racial, economic, and political tensions that loomed on Salt Spring Island in the era of 19th century expansionism.

In the World Languages category, MERLOT has selected a German language website called Kaleidoskop: Alltag in Deutschland. Developed by a researcher at the Goethe Institut Iner-Nationes, Kaleidoskop presents samples of everyday culture in Germany. Users can contribute to forums where participants either describe their impressions as visitors to Germany or contrast their homeland experiences with those of German residents -- on topics ranging from food to film, smoking to schooling, books to beer gardens. The site employs audio and video to help teach concepts; users can even listen to and attempt to identify a variety of regional dialects. A section for teachers provides advice and ideas for using the site to teach German.

And finally, MERLOT awarded its highest honor, one of its three Editors Choice Awards, to the Virtual Chemistry Laboratory hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. As the site's developers point out, hands-on laboratory experiments (though valuable) are often constrained by cost, time, and safety factors. However, this networked simulation uses a collection of Java applets that allow students to select from hundreds of chemical reagents and combine them as they deem appropriate. They can check out the equipment from a virtual stockroom, and then mix and titrate solutions just as they would in a real lab. One wrong move might even lead to an explosion! Commendably, the authors provide all kinds of advice for using the online lab in a classroom setting. And users can sign up for mailing lists to receive notices as new versions of the lab are released and to discuss innovative ways of using it in teaching.

For more on these and other praiseworthy resources, visit the MERLOT Classics and Editors' Choice Awards webpage.

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