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What do You get out of the Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX)?
Alan Levine
Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction (mcli)
Glendale Community College's CTC Meeting (Dec 9, 2003)
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/show/gcc_1203.html
The answer is, "as much as your colleagues can put into it."
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This presentation uses the streaming Internet features of Macromedia Flash (the whole thing is only 355k!). If you cannot view the slide show... |
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What is the MLX? The Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX) is an online virtual warehouse of ideas, teaching materials, and resources (represented as "packages")  are examples of things that support learning at Maricopa. What one means by learning often defies quantifying, as do examples of learning. That is why we represent them as mysterious wrapped packages, ranging from as small as a spreadsheet activity designed for a chemistry lab exercise to a complete faculty development program.
What is in a Package? Each MLX package is represented by its "packing slip" containing all of the information about the item, and it can include web links to online materials or relevant resources. Inside the package you can find any kind of file that can be uploaded from a computer- documents, presentations, animations, audio, video, images, etc. Every packing slip has a unique web address that can be linked directly from any other web page.
The MLX is fully searchable by title, people's name, discipline, description and can be limited to one college or Maricopa-wide. All Maricopa employees can instantly create accounts that allow them into the "loading dock" the place they enter the information about their submitted packages. They also have a unique web address that displays their MLX "inventory" (example).
What kind of packages are in the MLX? They include, but are not limited to Teaching Strategies (classroom activities, grading rubrics, instructional models), Research and Development (experimentation with new techniques or technologies), Learning Objects (media developed including assignments, web quests, powerpoints, java applets, shockwave/flash animations), Applied Resources (descriptions of how faculty have developed lesson ideas around existing content), Web-based activities (lessons, materials developed for online access, in or out of course management systems), Online Courses (even if they are not open to view, one can describe strategies used, lesson ideas), Projects (reports from summer projects, grants, internships), Learning Support (tutorials, workshop materials), and Subject References (collections of internet and/or print resources for specific disciplines).
What should I put in the MLX? Try to think of what you might want to know about the materials, activities, assignments used by your colleagues who teach in the same discipline. Wouldn't it be useful in your own course design to have these ideas to draw upon? Even your syllabus, references, assigned activities would be of interest, and many of these materials are milling around somewhere on your hard drive.
What if I do not have time to enter all of this information? It takes less time to create an MLX package than it does to read and delete your morning e-mail. You can create them in stages as well, as you always have the ability to modify, add, or delete from your packages.
What else is there about the MLX I would want to know? The MLX has been one of the pioneers in applying an internet communications technology known as "RSS" to collections of learning objects. This simple technology allows you to build collections of information feeds from sources you select (e.g. in discipline fields or just areas of interest) that are dynamically updated by the originating sites. A newer apprach can allow each faculty to embed a dynamic link in their home page highlight their MLX packages.
What is this "Great Race"? As an incentive to building up the resources in the MLX, we are running a friendly competition. Every six months we track the number of items submitted, and award substantial prizes of software to the colleges that contribute the most items. For the current race that ends March 30, we also have prizes for individuals who submit the most, with the top prize a copy of Macromedia Studio MX2004.
The warehouse is open and waiting for you:
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