Kristina Lattanzio’s Blog….

I’m having some troubles thinking of ways to incorporate audio into my course.  Dictation is going to be such an important part of my course and it’s necessary that I include, but am a little stuck on how to go about this.  On another note, the noteflight website I came across will be a very useful tool to have a student complete creative assignments and assignments where they are required to notate music in some way.  This site allows the user to compose music, play back, edit and share compositions with other users. 

This second module has helped me learn more about the students I will teach.  In particular the article “Do Online Students Dream of Electric Teachers” helps us get to know our students before we actually “meet” them.  While developing my course materials, I refer back to some thoughts in this article to make sure I am keeping in mind, the thoughts and obstacles my potential students may bring with them.  I still am quite a bit concerned in offering an online music theory course…..especially to high school students. 

The most important for me in developing all parts of my course is making sure students know what is expected of them at all times.  Repetition of expectations is necessary for student success and clearly explaining directions and processes for my activities in each module/week/lesson is needed to ensure students will be staying on task.  I have always known that I must not expect that people will know what I expect and not to assume they know how something will work but this module has reminded me of how important it is to put every direction and everything I would normally say in a face to face classroom into a document of some kind in the online version.

The moodle course development area is sometimes challenging for me to use…..however I think this is just a matter of getting use to.  The most difficult part is figuring out how to use and set up the various activities. (3)

I have learned quite a bit over these first two weeks.  In completing my course profile, I am better able to what questions/concerns my students may have upon taking a course in music theory.  I liked how I was to answer each question as if I were talking directly to a student as it allows me to think more about student needs and my expectations of them.  The course information assignment has also provided insight as to what additional experiences I may need to develop an online course and what students may need to know about technology in order to take it.

I am on the lookout for some sites that offer music theory drill and practice exercises.  I’m thinking that perhaps this could be something I use as a supplement to my online course. 

This module’s discussions have been interesting and brought back some important ideas and theories regarding teaching and learning and psychology related to each.  I feel I was somewhat intimidated by the start of the discussion and spent too much time dwelling on what was expected that in some ways it kept me from participating at my fullest.  In regards to discussions, I can improve my own learning by posting more frequently and perhaps focusing on a specific issue related to the module’s activities, my subject area and specific concerns I may have. 

The computer skills self assessment revealed that I am pretty knowledgeable of most basic functions related to using a computer, internet, word processing tools, and email.  I need to “brush up on at least one skill” but there shouldn’t be any problems with that.  The manual has been a good tool to assist in what is needed to teach an online course and how to get started. (3)