[Smt-talk] Online music courses?

[Benjamin Wadsworth]

Dear Eric,

At Kennesaw State I designed a new online course in music rudiments to be given to incoming music majors who fail an entrance exam. The course covers music notation, major and minor scales, intervals, triads, and figured bass. Although the scope of the course is too big to go into here, I'll give you a couple of highlights. (I'm also happy to distribute some of my materials that explain the course to anyone who asks.)

In general, the course is designed to give all incoming students a minimum level of proficiency when they start Theory I. It consists of four modules, each having a 1) lesson (a powerpoint with a voice and piano commentary beyond the text); 2) a series of assignments which a student must scan, take a picture of with a camera, then submit to try to make a minimum grade; and 3) a test to be taken on Blackboard in which they have to make a minimum grade. One highlight of the course is how the assignments have students write their answers using music notation, which they then convert into series of note names. This way of writing note names is then used for the quizzes in Blackboard, which lacks the capability to accept musical notation (as far as I am aware).

The course has had two years of results: as far as I can tell, introducing it correlated with a 5% jump in student pass rates in Theory I and its final exam. We also instituted a survey in 2012 to provide better data of effectiveness. In short, the students thought all of the topics were doable within a one-month span (the time-frame of the course) with the exception of figured bass, which may simply be too involved of a topic for lower tiers of state-school students. As well, students seemed to like the use of diagrams, music notation in lessons, and the multiple homeworks (the most strongly preferred aspect). The course is still evolving: I hope to add video demonstrations of homework problems. I would also like to add a Skype aspect to the course for extra help sessions, if the students (especially adult ones) are having trouble with the online format. Note that this course involves a lot of work from an instructor: it is not profit-generating in that sense.

I would be very curious to find out if other schools with similar remedial courses have taught online courses, and with which results.

All best,
Ben Wadsworth (Ben)

contact: bwadswo2 at kennesaw.edu 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric J Isaacson" <isaacso at indiana.edu>
To: "smt-talk" <smt-talk at societymusictheory.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 10:45:06 PM
Subject: [Smt-talk] Online music courses?



Dear Colleagues, 


We would be interested in hearing about the experiences you or your institutional colleagues have had with online teaching in music. Our interest is not limited to music theory, but could encompass music history, music education, other academic areas, as well as performance studies. We are NOT interested in speculative critiques of the idea of online education (we are perfectly capable of conjuring these ourselves!), but rather in real-world stories from the trenches. Responses might address: 

    • What subject was taught? 
    • Who was the target population? 
    • Was it an online adaptation of an existing course or designed for online delivery? 
    • Was the course wholly online or blended? 
    • What technolog(ies) were involved? 
    • Is there any statistical or anecdotal information about the course's effectiveness, efficiency, etc., from the perspective of the students? The instructor? 

Best wishes, 


Eric J. Isaacson 
Director of Graduate Studies, Assoc. Professor of Music Theory 
Gretchen Horlacher 
Assistant to the Dean for Research and Administration, Assoc. Professor of Music Theory 
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music 


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