August 2003 — Features
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Maintaining the Integrity of a Web-Based Music Course
The ability of students to learn from the questions and answers posed by classmates. If an individual student's question was relevant to the entire class, the professor addressed the question in a weekly all-class e-mailing. In addition, there were two questions posed by the professor for each student to answer in a threaded discussion format. Students had the option to pose threaded questions, but none took advantage of this option. Finally, when requested by students, times were scheduled for an on-campus Q & A with the professor during which students could ask course-related questions.
Appropriate interaction with classmates. The professor placed students in small groups of four or five based on their major field of interest (i.e., math, reading, etc.). Then, names of group members were distributed to each student. All students were encouraged to interact with each other for questions and concerns about the course.
Opportunities for collaborative learning. With the same groups, students were encouraged to meet to complete the lesson plan demonstration. They were also encouraged to serve as one another's students. Some student assignments were posted on the Internet for all to access.
Instructional support. Any technical problem with access to the course was addressed through the university's online department. The first unit presented students with the structure and format of the course. Students were instructed as to the functions of different "buttons" and how to proceed through the individual units. For each topic presented, students were referred to certain pages in the text for additional reading. At times throughout the course, questions were posed with possible answers. With the use of JavaScript, pull-down menus were developed, which posed a question to students and provided an immediate response to their selected answer.
Finally, both visual images and audio clips were used to demonstrate certain musical concepts. For example, an image of a particular music excerpt (i.e., a major scale) was presented. An audio clip linked to the image provided the sound of the scale when students clicked on the image. This combination of visual images linked with audio clips was often used through-out the Internet course.
Evaluation Formats
When addressing course integrity, we dealt with several issues. The issues focused on the four evaluation formats presented earlier: exams, lesson plans, performance exams and the comprehensive final exam. In the traditional on-campus class, an exam was completed after a presentation of each of the four elements of music. It was determined that offering four exams over the Internet would not be the most effective or practical manner of assessing student knowledge. Therefore, assignments were designed to provide the students similar experiences and tasks associated with the in-class exams.
Every unit (i.e., online course section) contained three to four learning assignments designed to enhance the students' learning experiences. The unit assignments assessed basic knowledge of musical concepts. Content areas included topics such as writing rhythms (e.g., correct note usage, correct beats per measure, etc.), identifying pitches and writing notation for major and minor scales. Each assignment is built on the knowledge learned in the current and previous units. Students completed each assignment and submitted answers to the professor for grading and critiquing. All of the assignments prepared students for the final comprehensive exam.
