Fall '08:

Implementation & Celebration of Teaching

In the Fall '08 semester I began to utilize the ELS technology in teaching Advanced Applied Percussion. Almost immediately I observed a positive impact on the students' progress. Student feedback has also been overwhelmingly positive, both with new and continuing students.

On Thursday, November 6, I presented a Poster entitled "Creating An Enhanced Learning Studio For Instrumental Instruction" at the SUNY College at Oneonta’s 5th Annual Celebration of Teaching to share with the college community my collected observations about the project so far.

Click the image below to download the poster

The Enhanced Learning Studio (ELS) project was started in the summer/fall of 2008 with a grant from the SUNY Oneonta Teaching, Learning and Technology Center. The ELS offers music students a more focused and efficient learning environment that allows them to achieve a better understanding of fundamental instrument techniques through the use of mutimedia technology. The ELS provides the ability to record audio and video of key elements of each lesson with the individual student. This enables the instructor to provide exact information about the students’ own movements in an easily reviewable way and help ensure effective use of practice time, as opposed to traditional methods in which the students are left on their own with only notes and memory to guide them through their practice. In addition this gives the instructor a clear record of a student’s progress from week to week, and the ability to create personalized work-out videos which can focus on more long-term goals, extending past the scope of one semester. Another benefit is the ability to display in front of the student mutiple views of the notated exercise, the instructor’s demonstration, the student’s own performance.

Summer '08 Activity:

Phase One

As of 8/11/08 I have received all the gear and the lesson room is equipped and ready to go. I have tested all the cameras and determined the Logitech QuickCam Orbit to be the best suited for the project. It delivers the best quality image, with no lag in response time, and has pan and zoom functions built in. The included software allows easy recording and basic editing.

Unfortunately this functionality comes at a price. This was the most expensive web-cam tested, at around $100, and the software does not fully integrate with a Mac. This will clearly not work as the "inexpensive, cross-platform" solution I still hope to provide students with, however, this is hands-down the best solution for the classroom at the moment. While I have found several free or inexpensive alternatives for the PC, so far none can match what the Logitech package provdes for real time feedback. I am still actively searching for a solution that can compete.

The Mac platform has presented several problems so far. The computer I have to work with is a G5 iMac and unfortunately NOT compatible with the LCD monitor. Also, while there appears to be some excellent audio/video software available, I have been unable to find much of anything that is low cost or open sourced that will work in real time.

Clearly I will need to consult with someone who has more familiarity and experience with Apple products to fulfill this goal of compatibility.

I have found that the open source software CamStudio works very well to record all current screen activity and opened windows as a single video file. For example, this video could show a screen containing a notated exercise, the instructor demonstrating this exercise, and the student playing along, all at the same time.

Phase Two

This web site is now up and running to provide information about the project and a place to host the database of reference materials. Many of the exercise examples are already available in the exercise section, and more are being added regularly.

I have begun to use the cam-corder to record some of the technical demonstrations that will be available through this site. This is an ongoing process that will continue throughout the project and give me the ability to adapt demonstrations to fit the needs of a given semester.