by Jim Lucas, Professor of Music, Northeastern Illinois University
The Tools of the Age: A Song
words and music copyright 1999 Jim Lucas
I teach with the tools of the age.
My tools are the question and page.
Using the question and page electronic
I teach musical wonders harmonic.
I teach with the tools of the age.
Oh, the question and page,
They're all the rage,
But to the teacher and sage,
They're just the tools of the age.
The question is my tool number one,
Like “Is this working?” or “Am I having fun?”
And questions for students, each one slightly new.
If you teach and learn, I’ll ask one of you,
“Are you using the tools of the age?”
Oh, the question and page,
They're all the rage,
But to the teacher and sage,
They're just the tools of the age.
The page is another tool that I use,
Web pages and email are the pages I choose.
A page, a letter, and a bulletin board,
That’s how I teach the what and why of a chord,
Using the tools of the age.
I teach with the tools of the age.
My tools are the question and page.
Using the question and page electronic
I teach musical wonders harmonic.
I teach with the tools of the age.
Oh, the question and page,
They're all the rage,
But to the teacher and sage,
They're just the tools of the age.
Tool Number One: The Question
As old as teaching and learning, the question is a tool we cannot use
enough. Two types of questions led me to develop and use new tools for
teaching: the basic questions (i.e. the ones I ask myself) and the
questions I ask my students (i.e. rhetorical questions and quiz
questions).
The Basic Questions
First, I asked myself some fundamental questions, such as:
- Can I do this better?
- What are my goals?
- Am I enjoying myself?
The answers were revealing to me. I started to think that I could do this better. I defined my goals, which were: 1) to be creative and 2) to teach. I felt that the way I was teaching was in need of some creative overhauling! The
enjoyment question went with this. Once I started overhauling the course, my enthusiasm for it soared!
Many Good Questions
Chapter Two of the book entitled Building a Web-Based
Education System has dozens of rhetorical questions like this. Here
are just a few of the most pertinant ones, each of which can lead to
other questions:
Why do you want to build a Web-based (or Web-enhanced) classrom?
Does your institution provide any technical support?
Does your institution have a Web policy?
How is workload calculated at your intitution?
Question Tool: the Drill
The Questions for the Students?
Then, I used the rhetorical and pedagogical tool of the question
with my students, in the form of a textbook which comes with software
drills (i.e. questions). The book is called Foundations of Music: a Computer-Assisted Introduction,
(Third Edition) by Robert Nelson and Carl J. Christensen, Published by
Wadsworth Publishing (Paperbound © 1997, Windows Version: ISBN/ISSN: 0-534-50740-9, Mac Version: ISBN/ISSN: 0-534-50741-7).
The drills in this book are remarkable learning tools which the students have responded to very positively.
Question Tool: The Quiz
The second tool is an old one, but in an electronic version. The quiz
has been a handy and tried-and-true way to find out how the course is
going.
WWWAssign
I found a wonderful tool which allows me to place these quizzes
online: WWWAssign, a
program written by Dr. Larry Martin of North Park University. After
trying other quiz programs, I have chosen it as the tool of the age I use
for online quizzes. This tool is described in the WWWAssign Assignment.
WebAssign
This is an easier to use, more powerful version of WWWAssign. It has a WebAssign Faculty
Page and a WebAssign
Student
Page. It costs $250.00 for a first time setup fee per faculty member,
with a $5.00 per student, per semester fee after that.
Tool Number Two: The Page
- The Home Page
- I now use World Wide Web Pages for all my courses. The home page of
Music Concepts
Online is at URL:<http://come.to/mco>. We'll learn how to create
such pages in the Page Assignment.
- The Electronic Letter
- I use listservs for my courses. We'll learn how to create, moderate,
and use listservs in the Listservs
Assignment.
- The Web Conference (or Bulletin Board)
- I use web conferencing tools.
Some Other Tools
While the tools I have used are recently available tools, they are by no
means "cutting edge" tools. Here are some other tools which "push the
envelope" more than a textbook with drills, online quizzes and web pages:
Michigan State
University EGR124 - Internet and Technology course
