merlot.org

MERLOT's Content Builder is a free tool for creating accessible, scalable, multi-page websites, and it's the path to take if you want to build original online learning materials rather than just submit something you already made elsewhere. You need a MERLOT account to use it, and the site provides a video tutorial to walk you through the process. Once your material is built, you can add it to the MERLOT collection.

What Content Builder Is For

Content Builder sits alongside MERLOT's other creation and sharing functions, but it serves a distinct purpose:

• Content Builder — build accessible, scalable, multi-page websites from scratch.
• Add a Material — submit an online learning material you've found or created to the MERLOT Collection.
• Course ePortfolio — assemble a course-level portfolio.

If your goal is to author a new multi-page resource, Content Builder is the relevant tool. If you already have a finished resource and just want it listed, use Add a Material instead.

Prerequisites

Before you start, confirm the following:

1. A MERLOT account. Creating materials, adding materials to the collection, and joining the community all require signing up. MERLOT states these actions are free, but you still need to register and log in.
2. A clear sense of your material's structure. Because Content Builder produces multi-page sites, it helps to sketch your pages and their order before you begin.
3. Accessibility in mind from the start. MERLOT describes Content Builder as producing accessible sites, so plan headings, alt text, and readable structure as you build rather than retrofitting later.

Step-by-Step

1. Sign up or log in. Use the Sign Up / Log In links on merlot.org. You'll need an account before any creation or submission action.
2. Go to the Create section. MERLOT's navigation includes a Create area, which is where Content Builder lives. The site notes you can "Build accessible, scaleable, multi-page websites with Content Builder entirely for free."
3. Watch the video tutorial. MERLOT explicitly offers a video tutorial for Content Builder. Watching it first is the fastest way to understand the interface before you commit to building.
4. Build your pages. Create your multi-page site within Content Builder. Structure your content into pages and keep accessibility practices in mind as you go.
5. Add the finished material to the MERLOT Collection. Once built, you can submit it so it becomes part of the collection and is discoverable by the community.

Expected result: a published, multi-page learning website that lives in the MERLOT Collection and can be found by other educators, learners, and researchers.

Common Sticking Points

• Trying to submit before you build. Add a Material and Content Builder are different actions. If you want to author something new, start in Create, not in the submission form.
• Skipping the tutorial. The video tutorial exists precisely because the tool has its own workflow. Going in blind tends to cost more time than watching it.
• Forgetting the account step. Every creation and submission path routes through Sign Up / Log In. Do this first so you aren't interrupted mid-build.
• Treating it as a one-off page. Content Builder is designed for multi-page sites, so plan a page structure rather than cramming everything onto one screen.

Where It Fits in MERLOT Overall

MERLOT is an international community of educators, learners, and researchers, and its collection is large — the site reports 111,556 learning resources, 226,437 registered members, and 4,446 member institutions. Content Builder is one of the ways you move from consuming that collection to contributing to it. If you'd rather contribute an existing resource, use Add a Material; if you want to build something new and accessible from the ground up, Content Builder is the tool to start with.

MERLOT (merlot.org) is a curated online learning resource collection and international community for educators, learners, and researchers. It provides access to peer-reviewed learning materials, content creation tools, and community features. According to the site, joining and using the platform is free, and it currently hosts 111,556 learning resources with 226,437 registered members across 4,446 member institutions.

What MERLOT Offers

MERLOT serves two main purposes: finding quality educational materials and connecting with a community of educators.

Learning Resources

The collection contains curated online learning and support materials. You can browse by academic discipline or search directly. Disciplines include:

• Arts
• Business
• Education
• Health Sciences
• Humanities
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Science and Technology
• Social Sciences
• Workforce Development

Beyond standard materials, the collection also includes learning exercises, bookmark collections, course ePortfolios, and peer reviews.

Community Features

MERLOT describes itself as an international community of educators, learners, and researchers. Community elements include:

• Academic Discipline Communities and Academic Support Communities
• Virtual Speakers Bureau
• Peer Reviews of submitted materials
• Member Institutions and Academic/Industry Partners

Content Creation Tools

MERLOT provides Content Builder, which the site describes as a tool for building accessible, scalable, multi-page websites entirely for free. A video tutorial is available. You can also create course ePortfolios and add materials to the collection.

How to Get Started

1. Sign up for a free account using the Sign Up link on the homepage.
2. Search or browse the collection by discipline or use the advanced search options for materials or members.
3. Add a material you've found or created to the MERLOT Collection.
4. Create multi-page websites with Content Builder.
5. Join communities aligned with your academic discipline or support interests.

Key Numbers at a Glance

Who It's For

MERLOT is designed for educators, learners, and researchers who want to find curated teaching and learning materials, contribute their own resources, or connect with peers across disciplines and institutions. The platform is led by an international community and, per the site, free to join and use.

MERLOT (merlot.org) provides two main ways to find learning materials: a search bar with basic and advanced options, and a browsable collection organized by discipline. You can search by keyword, switch between searching materials and members, and refine results with filters on the left side of the results page. Browsing by discipline or academic support area is the better choice when you want to see what exists in a field rather than look for something specific.

Searching the Collection

MERLOT's search sits at the center of the homepage and supports several input types.

• Basic search: Enter a keyword or phrase in the main search box. By default, results return materials.
• Materials vs. Members: Use the "by: Materials | Members" toggle to switch what you're searching. If you enter an email address, MERLOT will ask whether you want to search for members instead — choosing "No" displays materials first.
• ISBN search: If your entry looks like an ISBN, MERLOT prompts you to confirm whether to search using it as an ISBN. This is useful for locating materials tied to a specific textbook.
• Advanced search: The "Advanced Search Options" link opens two separate tools — "Advanced Material Search" and "Advanced Member Search" — for more targeted queries.

Refining Results

After a search runs, the results page offers filters on the left side. Use these to narrow by criteria such as discipline or material type. The exact filter set depends on your query, so start broad and narrow down rather than trying to build a perfect query first.

Browsing by Discipline

If you don't have a specific title in mind, browsing is often faster. MERLOT organizes its collection into discipline areas, each with its own portal:

• Arts
• Business
• Education
• Health Sciences
• Humanities
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Science and Technology
• Social Sciences
• Workforce Development

There are also Academic Support Services portals for topics that cut across disciplines. The "Browse All Materials" link lets you see the full collection without picking a discipline first. A Discipline Index and RSS feed are also available from the browse area.

What You'll Find

The collection contains a mix of resource types, including:

• Learning resources and learning exercises
• Bookmark collections
• Course ePortfolios
• Peer-reviewed materials (MERLOT publishes peer review information)

As of the site's published metrics, the collection lists 111,556 learning resources, 226,437 registered members, and 4,446 member institutions.

Adding Your Own Materials

If you find or create something worth sharing, MERLOT accepts submissions through "Add a Material." You can also build multi-page websites with Content Builder, which the site describes as free to use, and create a Course ePortfolio. A video tutorial is linked from the Content Builder section.

Quick Reference

Both searching and browsing are open to visitors; creating materials and joining the community require a free account via Sign Up.

MERLOT uses a volunteer peer review process to evaluate a subset of the materials in its collection, and the results are published on the site so you can judge quality before you adopt a resource. The process applies to individual learning materials submitted to the MERLOT Collection, not to every item you will find through search. If you need a quick answer: look for a material's peer review information on its MERLOT page, and treat reviewed materials as the ones that have passed an external quality check by discipline experts.

How the review is organized

MERLOT is described as a curated collection led by an international community of educators, learners, and researchers. Peer review sits inside that community structure: reviewers are volunteers drawn from the academic discipline communities, and their work is coordinated through the Editorial Boards that correspond to MERLOT's discipline portals.

The site lists these discipline areas for browsing, which is also where review expertise is organized:

• Arts
• Business
• Education
• Health Sciences
• Humanities
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Science and Technology
• Social Sciences
• Workforce Development

Academic Support Services form a separate portal category. A material is normally reviewed within the discipline it belongs to, so the reviewer's subject background matches the content.

What reviewers evaluate

MERLOT's peer review is built around a set of quality criteria rather than a simple pass/fail impression. The public entry point for this is the Peer Review Information page linked from the site's About section. In practice, a review considers whether the material is:

• Quality of content — accurate, current, and relevant to the stated subject and level.
• Potential effectiveness as a teaching tool — whether it supports learning objectives and can be integrated into instruction.
• Ease of use — how readily a teacher or learner can navigate and use it without unnecessary obstacles.

Each reviewed material receives a review that discusses these dimensions, so you get reasoning, not just a score.

What reviewed materials receive

Materials that complete the process can be recognized through MERLOT Awards, which the site lists alongside Peer Review Information under its About section. The practical signal for a user is the same either way: a reviewed material carries published review information on its MERLOT page, and award-winning materials carry an additional distinction.

This matters when you are choosing between several resources on the same topic. A reviewed material gives you a documented expert opinion; an unreviewed material may still be excellent, but you are relying on your own judgment or on other users' bookmark collections and learning exercises.

How to check whether a material has been reviewed

1. Search or browse to the material. Use Search with the Materials option, or go through Browse by Discipline.
2. Open the material's detail page in the MERLOT Collection.
3. Look for the peer review section on that page. If a review exists, it will present the reviewers' evaluation; if not, the material simply has no published peer review.
4. Cross-check the Peer Review Information page under About MERLOT for how the process and criteria are described, and the MERLOT Awards page for recognized materials.

The expected result is that you can tell, before adopting a resource, whether an external expert has assessed it and what they found.

Common points to keep in mind

• Not everything is reviewed. MERLOT hosts a large collection (the site reports 111,556 learning resources), and peer review covers a portion of it. Absence of a review is not a negative verdict.
• Reviews are volunteer-produced. They come from community members in the discipline, so coverage varies by field and by how active a discipline community is.
• Reviews are a selection aid, not a substitute for your own check. Read the review against your own course context, since criteria like ease of use depend on your learners and platform.
• Membership is not required to read reviews. Browsing the collection and viewing review information is part of the public site; creating an account is presented as free and is aimed at contributing materials, joining communities, and using creation tools.

If your goal is to pick trustworthy teaching materials quickly, filter your attention toward materials that show peer review information or a MERLOT Award, then read the review text to see whether the reviewers' reasons match your needs.

MERLOT is an international community of educators, learners, and researchers, and you can join it by signing up for a free account on merlot.org. Membership lets you add learning materials to the collection, create your own content, and take part in discipline-based communities. The site states that creating materials, adding materials, and joining the community are all free.

What the MERLOT Community Is

MERLOT describes itself as "an international community of educators, learners, and researchers" that provides access to curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools. The community is not just a materials library — it is organized around people and partnerships.

The site reports the following scale:

These figures give a sense of how large and active the community is, and they are drawn directly from the MERLOT homepage.

How the Community Is Organized

MERLOT groups its community into several overlapping structures:

• Academic Discipline Communities — communities organized around subject areas such as Arts, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences.
• Academic Support Communities — communities focused on support services rather than a single discipline.
• Academic Partners — institutions that partner with MERLOT.
• Industry Partners — companies that partner with MERLOT, with a listed "Partner Benefits" and "Become a Partner" path.
• Members Around the World — the international membership base.

There is also a Workforce Development area and SkillsCommons, a related search and workforce solutions resource.

What You Can Do as a Member

Joining gives you several concrete ways to participate:

• Add a Material — submit an online learning material you have found or created to the MERLOT Collection.
• Create Materials with Content Builder — build accessible, scalable, multi-page websites. MERLOT states Content Builder is "entirely for free" and offers a video tutorial.
• Create a Course ePortfolio — assemble a course-level portfolio.
• Build Bookmark Collections — organize materials you want to keep.
• Participate in Peer Reviews — contribute to the community's review process.
• Engage with Learning Exercises and Virtual Speakers Bureau — additional community features listed in the site navigation.

Opportunities the Community Offers

Beyond contributing materials, MERLOT lists several programs and recognition paths:

• Peer Review Information — a structured review process for materials.
• MERLOT Awards — recognition within the community.
• Faculty Development — programs and resources for instructors.
• Policies and Practices — community guidelines.
• Our Conference — a MERLOT conference.
• MERLOT Programs and Projects — ongoing initiatives.
• Media Center and MERLOT Blog — news and updates.

How to Join

1. Go to merlot.org.
2. Select Sign Up (or Join Us).
3. Create your account. MERLOT states that joining, creating materials, and adding materials are all free.
4. Once registered, use Log In to access member features.
5. Start by browsing the collection or adding your first material.

If you already have an account, use Log In instead. The site also notes that if you enter an email address in search, it will ask whether you want to search for members instead of materials.

Getting Started After You Join

• Browse the Collection — use "Browse All Materials" or browse by discipline to see what is already available.
• Search — use the main search or Advanced Search, which supports searching by Materials or Members.
• Add a Material — contribute something you have found or created.
• Try Content Builder — if you want to create your own multi-page learning site, start with the video tutorial.

The community is built around participation, so the fastest way to get value from it is to browse first, then contribute.