Material Detail Page
Once you have complete your search and identify a material you want to view you are taken to what is called the Material Detail Page. This contains all the metadata for the resource.
Directly under the title of the material is the description - one of the most important items on the detail view page. This is where are most of the information about the material is listed. This section is completed by the submitter, so it contains as much information as available.
Other information on the page includes the disciplines, author, audience and technical format.
Further down the page, the author of the material (If known) and the submitter are listed. Other required metadata on the page includes the subject categories (disciplines) the material is characterized in and any keywords associated with the resource. This is very useful when performing an advanced search for materials in a specific discipline. Primary audience lets potential users know the best audience for the material.
The remaining items on the detail page are considered optional but just as important when included. These are: Mobile compatibility, Technical requirements (if any), Language, Cost involved, Accessibility Information, Creative Commons, Source code available, and whether there is a copyright.
About this material - Getting Involved with the material
Each item on the right side of the material detail view page provides additional information as to the value of the learning object in MERLOT. Below is a brief explanation with links to further information as available and explanation on how to get involved.
- Editor review - Indicates the review received a rating (1-5) by members of the Editorial board for inclusion in MERLOT.
- Peer Review – Indicates the review rating and a link to the actual Peer review. You can learn more about peer reviews, the process and how to become a reviewer on the Peer Reviewer Information page.
- Discussion - Have an idea, question, or debate inspired by this material? This is where you can add comments to the discussion about the material. This feature is available for every material in MERLOT. For more information about discussions in MERLOT, visit the Rating and Discussing a Material page.
- User Rating (Rate this material) - Users can rate a material and indicate if they have used it in their class. For more information on adding a rating, go to the Rating and Discussing a Material page.
- Create a Learning Exercise - Any Learning Exercises (also known as assignments) that have been developed for the material are listed. When a Member uses a MERLOT learning material and finds a valuable way of using it for instruction, the Member may subsequently develop a related, supplementary material. That supplementary material may be submitted to MERLOT for others to use and is called a Learning Exercise. This Learning Exercise is automatically attached to the original material with its link displayed on the Material DetailPage.
- Bookmark this material - A Bookmark Collection is like an annotatable folder in which such collected materials can be saved for subsequent use. A Bookmark Collection, for example, can be used to save a set of learning materials related to a topic in a course. Bookmark Collections are discoverable and shareable by other MERLOT users.
- Create a Course ePortfolio - The MERLOT Course ePortfolio allows you to build your entire course – from prerequisites to online resources to assessment – all within MERLOT, and then share your Course ePortfolio with colleagues and students, or download it into a Word document and create your course syllabus. To create a Course ePortfolio, you must first bookmark the material.
- Add accessibility information -This form has been developed and is copyrighted by the California State University Office of the Chancellor and contains 14 categories of information to describe the accessible characteristics of the material. Additional information about the accessibility categories can be found on the Accessibility Information page.
Recommendations for other materials in MERLOT. Users who viewed this material, also viewed....
MERLOT has developed a Recommender System to help users find additional materials. From any material detail view page,
there is a section of 6 materials that members have viewed, if they have also viewed the material page you are on. We hope this helps you in your search for the perfect online learning materials.
Material Detail pages for materials listed on the Other Collections or The Web tabs of a MERLOT Smart Search do not show the same "quality" details as materials in the MERLOT Collection, but they can be added to MERLOT to ultimately be reviewed.