Then I went to DaveConservatoire (Music Theory Lessons) - David
Rees, Royal College of Music, London, and began viewing “Music: A Beginner’sGuide”; wow, what a
difference. Animated videos using a whiteboard (has a black background and
colored pens), instructor writes on the board as he talks, making one feel they
are in the classroom. Instructor’s compassion for the topic of music is evident
as he speaks, and my worship leader will be overjoyed if I continue with the
entire program.
General Review
1st Dave Conservatoire began
in 2011 after viewing non-profit sites like Khan Academy and to because of a strong desire to reach more people with music.
2nd There is no fancy Learning
or course Management System to navigate
3rd Your choice to establish
a login or not; although, doing so enables you to track your progress
4th Once you start, the Next
Lesson navigational buttons help you progress through the entire course.
5th You can describe Dave
Conservatoire as a just-in-time learning, where the information presented is done so in modules available all
the time, so the learner can easily go directly to an individual module of
their choice (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012). Since I sing
and play the bass, I may need a refresher in knowing the notes on a tablature,
whether the treble clef or bass clef.
Critique
Dave Rees presents information with engaging videos, using a whiteboard
or smart board, which students view and listen. Based on the flow of the
content in each video, Dave uses a lesson plan, probably sprung from the
courses he teaches at Royal College of Music in London, United Kingdom. Dave chunked his videos into small, less than
10-minute, bite size morsels allowing the online student to digest the
information or do a quick review. As I
indicated earlier, Dave’s videos are presented in a manner that I feel keeps
the learner’s attention, because he writes on the whiteboard as he speaks and
his England accent is very easy to understand. Watching someone writing as they
speak is better than animated PowerPoint slides any day.
Dave utilizes interactive quizzes allowing the student to practice
and obtain feedback in the form of a shaking “check answer” button for wrong
answer or a smile 8-) face and “next
question” for correct answers. Honestly, I thought the shaking “check answer”
button meant something was wrong with the website, or my web browser. Dave
facilitates student participation, but only to a point, as these courses were
tailored for individual use, as a supplement, and not as a group, thus limiting
the active learning to the quizzes. Simonson,Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2012) indicate a good online training has
active learning with virtual small group discussions or experience with the
material via handouts, in addition to quizzes.
Dave organized the two courses two ways.
First on the main page he has “Music” A Beginner’s Guide” and “Reading Music”
listed with the various modules underneath for easy reference, but lacks the
organization of how each module falls or sequence—no numbering or tree. Herring
and Smaldino (2001) tells us to organize the information so that it helps the
student determine the flow of the course and not look like a puzzle (Simonson, Smaldino,Albright, & Zvacek, 2012). Dave does have the “getting stated” button, but
the remaining modules are displayed like a matching puzzle, uncertain on what
would come next without going into each one. Secondly, once in each course, no
matter which button you selected, you will see the progression Dave intended
for the course to flow on the left side of the page. So, if I select Modes (http://www.daveconservatoire.org/topic/modes)
for the “Music: Beginner’s Guide”, I would realize I needed to start with pitch
instead, thus not becoming lost.
How could I make it better?
- What immediately catches, or does not catch my eye is the lack of handouts or links to stuff I might to print and available free on the Internet that I could use to practice on or write notes.
- Provide explanation to how the courses should run and how the quizzes function—right and wrong answer feedback
- Provide a course map, whether by numbering the modules, displaying the modules in order on the main page and not once inside the course
- Consider placing the two courses in a free online learning management system (LMS) like Haiku Class, which is intuitive for the instructor and student. Roberts, Newman, and Schwartzstein(2012) offered twelve tips for facilitating millennial students; tip number seven reminds us as instructional designers to “recognize that millennials value (and expect) aesthetically appealing education presentation.” If it looks unappealing with first impressions, the perspective student may not come back for a second consideration.
As one who needs to beef up her knowledge of reading music, I will
consider returning to these courses. Dave does an excellent job of presenting
the information in an effective manner; using whiteboard to communicate is if I
were sitting in the classroom.
References
Rees, D. (2013). Dave conservatoire. Retrieved
http://www.daveconservatoire.org/.
Northern
Illinois University, Faculty Development and Instruction (n.d.). Millennials:
Our newest generation in higher education. Retrieved from http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/students/millennials_our_newest_generation_in_higher_education.pdf
Roberts,
D. H., Newman, L. R., & Schwartzstein, R. M. (2012). Twelve tips for
facilitating Millennials' learning. Medical Teacher, 34, 4,
274-8.
Simonson,
M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and
learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston,
MA: Pearson.
No comments:
Post a Comment