Grant Parker
Development of
MUFHL 300 – Introduction to Music
as an Online Offering
Type B Sabbatical
Spring 2015
Abstract
Project Title:Development of MUFHL 300 – Introduction to Music as an Online Offering
SemesterSpring, 2015
Author:Grant Parker
Organization:Music Department, Communication Visual and Performing Arts Division, Cosumnes
River College
Abstract:
The CRC Music Department does not offer any distance education courses. The development of MUFHL – Introduction to Music as an online offering can serve as a model for other music courses such as Jazz History, History of Rock and Roll or the two Survey of Music History and Literature classes. The curriculum for the course was re-written to include a distance education modality, submitted and placed in the catalogue in June of 2015. A semester calendar was developed using the adopted text. Lectures were recorded and adapted for online presentation combining lecture text, music audio and PowerPoint presentations in streaming video housed on the CRC server. Online tests already existed and were modified and corrected for the online version of the course. With improvements in Desire to Learn (D2L) the current term paper procedure was determined to be acceptable for online use. A procedure was put in place using the D2L dropbox for accepting concert programs and reports online or in person. An accommodation has been set up for students concert attendance requirement if they live more then twenty miles from the CRC campus.
Two problems were discovered that has caused the author to withdraw the lecture portion of the project for re-working. 1) The author determined that his rate of speech in the lectures was too fast, particularly for non English speakers and 2) a new edition of the textbook was issued in May 2015 after the lectures had been recorded. A new author was added to the textbook and the new edition has 25 substantially different chapters. As the old edition is no longer available for use the author felt it was important to re-record the lectures to match the new edition of the text. Completion for the revised work is expected by January, 2016.
ACCOUNT OF THE LEAVE
The PURPOSE of this sabbatical leave is to take the existing MUFHL 300 Introduction to Music course and convert it to an online format. The CRC Music Department has no offerings online. This is a missing component in a healthy curriculum for CRC students.
The OBJECTIVE of this project will be to have MUFHL 300 in place using D2L including all the components needed to offer lecture content, stream music vital to the curriculum and develop assessment tools. It should be noted that D2L has been very unstable in sound delivery. Part of the project will be to learn the best way of housing the musical examples for trouble free student access.
ACTIVITIES
1) Revise the course offering to include an online offering. Take this revision through curriculum to catalogue.
In the spring of 2015 the Curriculum Committee asked faculty working on distance education offerings to delay submitting those offerings as the procedure was changing in Socrates. I delayed submitting this revision until after the March 13th date. The Curriculum Committee approved the curriculum changes on May 7 and the revised version became effective on June 1, 2015. I thank Curriculum Chair Amanda Paskey and Articulation Officer Lynn Fowler for advice on the wording. The changed sections follow:
Section 5: Methods of Instruction
Methods of instruction may include several of the following: lecture, video and presentation software lecture in class, using the course management system with video and audio lectures on-line, on-line listening examples for both modalities, in class discussion or discussion board, demonstration, student presentations, term papers and on line assessment. Lectures may be used to build a vocabulary of musical terms, instrumental classifications and genres as they relate to musical eras. Demonstrations and group discussions may be utilized to aurally differentiate the sound of tonalities, harmonies, instruments and identify musical examples from different eras. Student presentations may be used to gain in depth knowledge of composers within different musical eras. The course management system will be used for both modalities to deliver musical examples so that students can learn to aurally differentiate art music and composers from different eras, different harmonies and instrument classifications.
Section 6: Typical Student Assignments
Typical homework assignments
Students will be asked to read the text, choose a term paper topic based on a given criteria, write a term paper, prepare an oral presentation and attend and critique live concerts of western art music. The term paper and oral presentation will allow students to demonstrate learned music terminology, discuss aural nuances of a composer within that composer’s era, and the relationship the composer and his or her music has to the technology and the social influences of that era. Students will study recorded performances of music using the course management system. Students will be asked to submit assignments in person or through the course management system.
Section 7: Evaluation and Assessment Methods
Typical evaluation methods may include unit tests, participation in class or using the course management system discussion board or chat room, objective evaluation of a written term paper based on defined criteria and concert attendance. Unit tests will cover lecture, text and musical materials as they relate to learning outcomes including the relationship of art music to the musical eras and the characteristics of that era. Evaluation of a written paper and oral presentation will be based on the in depth information given and how that information ties into the outcomes that are related to the chosen topic. Students may be asked to complete assignments and exams either in person or through the course management system.
Section 8: Distance Education
Percentage: / Up to 100% of this course may be offered via distance education.The distance education portion of this course shall include regular substantive and effective faculty-initiated contact with students.
2) Design an easy to navigate D2L course. I currently have a D2L shell for the in person version of this class, however it is a “go to it as you need it” tool. For an online version I need to start from scratch and design a shell that flows through the semester in a logical, user friendly structure. Most of the activities below are related to the design of a new D2L shell specifically designed for the online course.
I provide online access to PowerPoint presentations for my on campus class which is divided up into major units. This works well for students who use them to review. For an online course, however, the PowerPoint presentations need to be broken down into chapters, and are now combined with lecture audio. Each week lectures will be listed in the news section with a full list identified by week inside of each unit.
INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC – SEMESTER CALENDAR
WEEK 1Part 1PreludeActive Listening
Materials of MusicChapter 1Melody
Chapter 2Rhythm and Meter
Chapter 3Harmony
WEEK 2Part 1Chapter 4Scales
Chapter 5Texture
Chapter 6Form
WEEK 3Part 1Chapter 7Tempo and Dynamics
Chapter 8Voices and Instrument Families
Chapter 9Instruments
WEEK 4Part 1Chapter 9InstrumentsDiscussion board: Your favorite instrument and why?
Chapter 10EnsemblesRespond to at least one posting.
Chapter 11Style and Function of Music
WEEK 5Part 2Term Paper Information Test 1 opens this week to Sunday 11 PM
Middle AgesPrelude 2Culture of Medieval and Renaissance
RenaissanceChapter 12Medieval Sacred Music
Chapter 13Medieval Secular Music
WEEK 6Chapter 14Renaissance Sacred Music
Chapter 15Renaissance Secular Music
Chapter 15Renaissance Instrumental MusicThree term paper topics due in Discussion Board
WEEK 7Part 3Prelude 3Life in the Baroque EraTest 2 open until Sunday at 11 PM
Baroque Chapter 16Baroque Opera
Chapter 17Baroque Cantata and Oratorio
WEEK 8Part 3Chapter 18Baroque Suite
Chapter 19Baroque Concerto
Chapter 20Baroque Sonata and Keyboard Music
WEEK 9Part 4Prelude 4Classicism in the ArtsTest 3 open until Sunday at 11 PM
ClassicalChapter 21The Sonata CycleDiscussion board: Post your first concert report,
Chapter 22Classical Chamber MusicCritique at least one other concert report
WEEK 10Part 4Chapter 23Classical Symphony
Chapter 24Classical Concerto
Chapter 25Classical Sonata
Chapter 26Classical Choral Music and Opera
WEEK 11Part 5Prelude 5RomanticismTest 4 open until Sunday at 11 PM
RomanticChapter 27The Art Song
Chapter 28Piano Miniatures
Chapter 2919th Century America
WEEK 12Part 5Chapter 30Program MusicFirst draft of term paper to dropbox
Chapter 31Absolute Music Turnitin score will report to you
Chapter 32 National OperaUse this week to edit and reduce score
Chapter 33Late and Post Romantic Musicto 10% or less.
WEEK 13Part 6Prelude 6Modernism in the ArtsTest 5 open until Sunday at 11 PM
ModernismChapter 34ImpressionismTerm paper due at drop deadline 11 PM
Chapter 35European Modern Forms+50 if one day early -50 if late
WEEK 14Chapter 36Early ModernistsDiscussion: Post your favorite listening example
Chapter 37European National Schoolsfrom the text and state why you like this work.
Chapter 37European National Schools cont.Discussion: Post your second concert report
Chapter 38American ModernismCritique one other concert report
WEEK 15Part 6Chapter 39American National School
Chapter 39Latin American
Part 8Prelude 8Post WWII ArtTest 6 open until Sunday 11 PM
PostmodernismChapter 44New Virtuosity
Chapter 45Composers and World MusicDiscussion: What was your favorite era and why?
Comment on at least one other posting.
WEEK 16Chapter 46Technology and MusicYou may retake one test this week. New score records,
Chapter 47Current Trendsnot the higher of the two. STUDY if you decide to
this option as your grade could go down!
WEEK 17FINALTest 8 and Final open until Wednesday at 11 PM
All four concert reports must be received by Wednesday 5 PM to my box at CRC
3) Develop and convert lectures. Lectures will include PowerPoint and accompanying audio lecture that will be streamed to the student and/or be downloadable by the student. Lectures will include video examples where appropriate (demonstration of musical instrument, opera performance, etc.).
I recorded all MUFHL 300 lectures for the spring semester, along with MUFHL 311, which is the more in depth version of the second half of MUFHL 300 aimed at Music Majors. Because music was played during the lecture the process was more involved. For each class session two microphones were set up to record the actual lecture and two line feeds from the computer were fed into a four track recorder. In editing the two lecture channels were moved to center so that the levels remain balanced even as I moved from the center of the classroom to the computer. The line feeds were balanced left and right so that the students will hear a good stereo recording. This was then edited with dead time removed and music balanced to the lecture.
It was at this point that I learned the most valuable lessons from this project: 1) I speak way too fast. Most of the editing took place after the semester was complete. I was horrified at how fast I speak in class. I can barely keep up with what I heard on the recordings and a second language learner would be hard pressed to understand what I was saying. My enunciation was also not as clear as I would like. 2) I wander off topic too much. An occasional aside can make a class interesting, and I’m highly rated by students who often comment on my love for the topic. Too many asides, however, cause the class to run behind schedule. I should finish the Baroque era by the end of week eight, and prior to this semester that has never happened. I make it to the end of the text, but it’s often a “hang on for the ride” in the last unit. This semester I have reconfigured my lecture setup so that I can be nearer the computer while still facing the students. I have consciously kept the asides to a minimum and I have worked to both enunciate and speak slower. The net result is that for the first time in the five years I’ve taught this class I finished the Baroque Era one class session ahead of schedule! Although this was not an expected outcome, this lesson will impact all of my students and improve their success. Because of the speed of my speech on these recordings I cannot consider this project complete until I have re-recorded these lectures which I am doing this semester. Even if FTE is never allocated for the online course I will still want to re-record these lectures as I wish to have them available to my on campus class for students who miss lectures due to absences.
The next step was to move the recorded lectures and PowerPoint into video. Although CRC has a site license for Adobe software, Distance Education Instructional Assistant Michael Bittner suggested that Camtasia was an easier to use program. Theater Professor Kale Braden also confirmed that this program was well suited to this application, and had used it in his online courses.
Finally, the completed lectures needed to be housed online. I have not been comfortable with outside hosting solutions recommended in the past as if that vendor changes rules it affects the D2L shell and students. I have talked to professors who have experienced this problem. I used BlackBoard prior to D2L’s implementation and used the CRC ftp site to host the audio as BlackBoard did not have that capability. Since D2L has been used it too has not handled audio files well. Test audio links back to the ftp site have always worked, so after checking with CRC Web Developer Christina Ocrant I decided to host these files there as well.
4) Develop new tests. Eight unit tests will need to be designed including the selection and editing of many audio musical examples. The in person version of this course has on-line tests that are given on campus. These tests were originally designed in BlackBoard and are in need of revamping. This course requires identification of musical examples, and embedded audio in test questions is required, which is a time consuming process. In addition, D2L has proven to have different issues related to sound with each update, and generally has been troublesome in streaming audio, so new tests will need to be designed with audio examples housed on other servers recommended by Distance Education. I will work with Distance Education to learn the best and most stable way to do this so that the student has the least amount of technical issues possible across all commonly used browser platforms.
For the in person version of the class I already use online tests. This is a non-major class that covers the equivalent material the Music Majors cover in a year. Eight tests on campus would simply take away too much of the needed lecture time. I have moved the due date of the tests to different days of the week and have discovered that a Sunday evening deadline has the highest completion rate. I am doing the same with the online offering. I typically will open the test for one more day if a student requests it as I want my students to be successful.
In addition I do three other things for the in person version of the class that I will do for the online version. The first unit test is the most technical and covers the most chapters (12) of the entire semester. The purpose of this unit is to develop a vocabulary and a foundation that is used in all future units. There is no time limit on this test and I encourage students to look up every answer they need to. This pays dividends for the rest of the semester. The remaining unit tests are timed at slightly over 30 seconds a question. I encourage students to answer only the questions they know and then hit the submit button. D2L will then bring up a list of unanswered questions. I encourage the students to manage their remaining time and look up these answers. My goal is for them to know the material. By skipping the question they have already confirmed what they don’t know, and looking up the correct answer places the material in front of them one more time. Finally, I allow them to take one test a second time the final week of classes before the final opens. The new attempt becomes the score for the test, so if they do not study their score can go down. I do this so that they study their least understood content of the semester and again gain more knowledge.
D2L seems to have solved its streaming problems in the past two semesters. I’ve had no complaints in the first four tests this semester, and that has never happened before. I was therefore able to go in and simply clean up these tests for the online version and have tested them by taking them myself in several browsers and platforms. The new edition of the text that will be implemented in the spring of 2016 has significant changes so I will be updating this once again for the spring semester for both my in person class and this online offering.
5) Develop discussion board topics. I have not used the D2L discussion board except as a spot to post term paper topic requests in the past. This semester I have begun to incorporate it as a tool in the MUIVI 410 Applied Music course. I believe this could be a powerful resource for an online course and am already shadowing one of Professor Braden’s Theater courses to learn techniques for incorporating this into an online version of Introduction to Music