Introduction to Courses
[Music: Hummel Bassoon Concerto with Performers Terry B. Ewell and Peter Amstuz]
This
is a life skills and academic competencies course
that happens to use music as the subject matter. The life skills
emphasized in
this course are turning in work on time, using technology effectively,
developing
efficient and healthy study habits, and well-organized thought
processes. The
academic competencies developed in this course include deep reading,
viewing
and processing written or online materials, writing with academic
prose,
avoiding personal references, alphabetizing, quotations of
other’s work, and proper
citations.
You
might be surprised to learn that the majority of
students taking my courses have difficulties completing assignments
properly. For
instance, in Spring 2023 only 35% of the MUSC 355 were able to
successfully complete
an introductory assignment that included downloading a file, properly
labeling
a file, placing the file in two locations in Dropbox, and turning in
the
assignment on time. In Spring 2023 in MUSC 114 only 47% of the students
were
able to follow directions and place final project in the correct
Dropbox
folder. There are only two choices, but over half the class made the
wrong
choice by not reading the instructions presented in red font in the
very papers
they submitted. In every assignment where students are required to
alphabetize
group members or citations, over 10% are not able to put items in the
correct
order. In addition, even at the end of the semester many students fail
to place
their surname first in a file name even though this has been the file
naming protocol
for the entire course. All of this underscores that students need to
better
focus, understand, and comprehend assignments.
As
a result of the great difficulties students are
having in the courses, in Fall 2023 all of my courses will
intentionally foster
life skills and academic competencies. Weekly journals will now be
required in
all of my courses and these journals emphasize these important skills.
The
journal will be the primary means of promoting life skills (turning in
assignments on time, in the correct location, and following directions)
and
academic competencies (reading with comprehension, taking notes, and
demonstrating appropriate writing skills).
You
will notice that my
courses are not similar to online courses that you might have taken. I
use many
materials that are not easily hosted on Blackboard. For this reason, I
host
materials on my websites. Also, the Blackboard site has a corporate
feel,
without creativity and beauty. But the most important reason that I
host on my
personal website is because I am not an online professor, rather a
digital
professor. The distinction between online and digital is one that I
created, so
let me explain it here.
On-the-whole,
online
courses present text materials in which students are required to
respond with
printed words, and the professor then provides critiques with text
materials. Certainly,
in my courses there are important text materials to consider. However,
all of
my digital courses require that students learn skills beyond text input
on a
screen or the production of MS Word files. Depending upon the course,
my
students create screen captures, sound files, videos, online lessons,
graphics
files, etc. Being a digital student in one of my courses means that you
will
provide more than just written text. You will be pushed to learn new
skills.
Developing creative skills will be important to future employment in
the USA.
Last
of all, let me quote
Towson University policies for course work: Faculty expect
students to spend
at least two hours reading, writing, and doing research outside of
class for
each hour spent in class. (https://catalog.towson.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies/definitions-terms/).
Thus, each 3-credit course at TU has the expectation of nine hours of
total
work per week.
[Music: Hummel Bassoon Concerto with Performers Terry B. Ewell and Peter Amstuz]