<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [Smt-talk] Course (anti)Hero</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><BR>
Bob Kosovsky writes:<BR>
>It does suggest that College 2.0 has to be different from what we've being<BR>
>previously/currently doing. Any kind of course where a student could presumably<BR>
>pass by obtaining previous years' homework is no longer going to work. The<BR>
>teacher must really think up assignments where the work is unique and the<BR>
>student won't benefit by copying previously written work. Nowadays students<BR>
>are much more collaborative - so why not create groups that are graded<BR>
>collectively (say a group of 4-5, and everyone has to accept the grade).<BR>
<BR>
I agree with Bob's remarks concerning "College 2.0." or as I like to<BR>
call it, good course design.<BR>
<BR>
For most of the undergraduate core theory/aural skills courses I teach,<BR>
my grading rubric looks something like this:<BR>
<BR>
10% Homework (1 to 3 per week)<BR>
30% Quizzes (generally 4-5 per semester)<BR>
15% Recitations/Hearings (4 or more per semester, one-on-one, covering sight<BR>
singing, rhythm, keyboard navigation, sing & play, etc.)<BR>
25% Lab (taught by TA's, graded with instructor oversight)<BR>
20% Final Exam<BR>
<BR>
I ASSUME That students will collaborate on homework; the more serious<BR>
students will either do it by themselves, or work together the night before<BR>
it's due, ideally at a keyboard; the rest will sit in the School of Music<BR>
lobby ten minutes before class starts desperately trying to do the<BR>
assignments by committee, one eye on the clock, no ears engaged. At the very<BR>
least, having a homework assignment due on a given day is a strong incentive<BR>
to show up to class on time.<BR>
<BR>
I explain to them that homework is like training for an athletic<BR>
competition. Sure, go ahead and skip your training in the gym, or get a<BR>
friend to do it for you; when the big event comes, you've squandered an<BR>
opportunity to properly prepare, and will reap the consequences. Collecting<BR>
the homework assignments at the very start of the ensuing lecture seems to<BR>
work best, especially as I take the folder with the submitted assignments<BR>
off the piano and put them away at precisely the stated starting time of<BR>
class; latecomers must submit them at the end of class, and incur a grade<BR>
penalty. (I use a variation of this with graduate theory courses of a review<BR>
or remedial nature, allowing students to go over the homework with me in<BR>
class, correcting as they go. They theoretically will hand in a stack of<BR>
perfect homework papers at the end of the hour.)<BR>
<BR>
I find that the psychological obligation created by regular homework<BR>
assignments does a great deal of my work for me vis à vis getting students<BR>
to attend lectures and to keep on top of what's coming on the next quiz or<BR>
exam, even though the numerical value of any single assignment is miniscule.<BR>
I also never re-use a quiz or exam, although I may recycle components from<BR>
them. Homework assignments are posted online, so I suppose that they could<BR>
end up in the wrong hands (e.g. Coursehero.com)--for what that's worth.<BR>
<BR>
As to the homework assignments, I make sure that they follow Kaplan's<BR>
Law (when assigning homework, remember who has to grade it).* If I can't<BR>
grade the entire stack of assignments in half an hour, the assignment was<BR>
poorly written. (I'm thinking in terms of classes of 50-70 students; for<BR>
larger sections, I make the assignments shorter.)<BR>
<BR>
So this is my less structured way of creating, or facilitating, the<BR>
collaborative component that Bob proposes--and of making sure that it<BR>
doesn't replace the need for the individual student to master skills and<BR>
concepts. I've experimented with allowing students to use the social<BR>
networking features of our course management software to create study<BR>
groups, but this seldom goes anywhere. Requiring students to form<BR>
out-of-class study groups would not work for our overbooked B.M. and B.M.E.<BR>
students. Hence the low-stakes homework option as an alternative.<BR>
<BR>
Best,<BR>
jp<BR>
Jeff Perry<BR>
Professor of Music Theory<BR>
275 Music and Dramatic Arts<BR>
School of Music, College of Music & Dramatic Arts<BR>
Louisiana State University<BR>
<a href="jperry@lsu.edu">jperry@lsu.edu</a> / (225) 578-3556 (voice) / (225) 578-2562 (fax)<BR>
<BR>
* Kaplan's Law is the formulation of my retired colleague Richard Kaplan,<BR>
Strauss and Mahler scholar, clarinetist and audiophile extrahordinaire.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
------ End of Forwarded Message</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>