Sify, MERLOT Jointly Take Initiative to Improve Standard of Online Education

Enterprise data services and consumer Internet provider Sify Technologies Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with MERLOT, in order to increase efficacy of learning and quality of online learning materials and services.

MERLOT is an international cooperative providing free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. It is a user-centered, searchable collection of selected higher education, online learning materials, which is catalogued by registered members and a set of faculty development support services.

MERLOT said that it has a vision to be a premiere online community where faculty, staff, and students across the globe can share their learning materials and pedagogy. This will help the company to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increasing the quantity and quality of peer reviewed online learning materials, which can be easily included into faculty-designed courses.

Sorel Reisman, managing director of MERLOT and vice president of publications of the IEEE (News - Alert) computer society, said in a press release, " Our alliance will enable us to jointly analyze, design and develop educational solutions for higher education in collaboration with MERLOT communities. We believe this will greatly enhance our ability to achieve our goal of improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increasing the quantity and quality of peer reviewed online learning materials that can be easily incorporated into faculty designed courses".

With this initiative, both the companies, Sify and MERLOT, will be working jointly to achieve their common goals with regard to raising the standard of online education, training and learning tools and applications. 

This initiative will not only effectively and efficiently serve their constituents by providing joint community activities and promoting the sharing of tools and resources, but will also allow the higher online education community to take advantage of high quality online resources and services through the collaborative efforts of both the companies, said Sify.

Devraj Shetty, business head, Sify eLearning services, Sify, said in a relase, “Sify and MERLOT share the mission of improving the efficacy of teaching and learning by expanding the quantity and improving the quality of online learning materials and services. To do this, we bring cutting-edge expertise, experience and applications to the alliance. Combined with the guidance of the diverse educational community members that MERLOT represents, this will result in successful collaboration to transform learning, education and training."

MERLOT said that its activities are based on the creative collaboration and support of individual members, institutional partners, corporate partners and editorial boards.