Introduction
Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, MERLOT is an online teaching and learning source for higher education students and teachers based on the existing online academic resources and data available for educational enhancement. MERLOT provides access to many interactive online sites and materials for the development of learning and teaching objects and encourages online information transfer among teachers and students through these sites. In this assignment, we will discuss the contents of the online site case study document named as “The Valley of the Shadow.” The learning object is accessible through MERLOT.
Discussion
The Valley of the Shadow is an interactive online site. The document type of this site is a digital historical case study. The Valley of the Shadow is about two communities in the American Civil War, including Virginia and Pennsylvania. The text of the site is briefly explained in written form, but it is informative as it provides hundreds of original documents, newspapers, letters, diaries, church records, and speeches of the people who took part in the Civil War. There is a heavy study material on the site. It serves to help fulfil the instructional purposes of providing access to the learning object easily, quickly, and in an enjoyable manner. The students can access a lot of information about the topic of their interest just by clicking the hyperlinks. There are many hyperlinks used in the learning material, which serve as a source of huge information for the students.
If they want more details about a particular topic, they can click the link and get more information on that, which is a way to promote learning. The Valley of the Shadow provides the students with information about the people living before and during the Civil War. Whenever the text is limited, there are many supporting materials like digital graphics, visuals, and audio available to help the students get more guidance on the topic. In “Minds on Fire,” Brown and Andler talked about the new and emerging tools for educating students. Students in this 21st century prefer to learn and work in a social group and in an interactive way, for which such kinds of online sites and virtual classes can be helpful. They can work individually on these interactive sites to get information (Brown & Andler, 2008). The students and the teachers both are in control. Learning from social and open education with the latest technology allows some control of the students to create virtual groups, but the teacher also has control over students and summons them to come into the virtual class.
The learning object, “The Valley of the Shadow,” has unique and interesting navigations that attract users. The graphics used to direct the user to any topic they want to explore are exceptional and easy to use. User-friendly navigations may allow the students to get indulged in the online material as they do not feel it a boring task to read. The users must not get confused because the navigation is clear, does not misdirect, and is easy to understand. It serves as a bridge for students to access knowledge and learn.
Conclusions
The digital learning tools and learning objects are different from the traditional learning tools. They are more interactive, attractive, and interesting for the students than traditional tools like books and handouts. They provide up-to-date information, and the ability to further explore more information with just one click, but the traditional tools have limited and not necessarily recent information. Due to these benefits, learning objects enhance not just learning but also teaching methods. Technology plays a vital role in expanding the concept of e-learning, as it provides teachers and students access to the latest information.
References
Brown, J., & Andler, R. (2008). Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0. EDUCAUSE REVIEW, 16-32.
