Open Course Analysis

Week 5 Blog Post: Open Course Analysis
Open Yale Courses: Listening to Music
James Landon

Open courses are free online distance learning courses of study that provide post-secondary learning opportunities to people around the world. Many very prominent and prestigious universities provide course materials such as “lectures, tests, notes, and readings available for free on the Internet” (Education Insider, 2012). These course offerings are usually provided with little or no registration and do not offer college credit. However, many are comprehensive and include lectures, media, quizzes, exams, and assignments (Education Insider, 2012)

Among the many universities and courses available, I choose the course titled “Listening to Music” (MUSI 112) from Yale University and taught by Professor Craig Wright (http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112#overview) to review and analyze (Listening to Music, 2012). This course has some positive aspects that align with best practices in distance learning. However, there are a number of drawbacks that would require extensive changes to provide a thoroughly interactive and engaging instructional environment.

Planning

“Listening to Music” from is one of several courses offered through the Open Yale Courses program at Yale University. Open Yale Courses provide “lectures and other materials from selected Yale College courses to the public free of charge via the Internet” and the courses span a full range of subject areas (About OYC, 2012). The structure and layout of the courses through this program are consistent with effective principles of design as described by Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek (2012). The layout of the pages in the course is clear, the font is appropriate, images relate to the content, and the color scheme is effective.

The content is provided in a way that is easy to find and readily accessible. This course provides multiple sessions, each with high-quality video of recorded lectures, transcripts of the videos, suggested readings and assignments, and supplemental course materials. All of this course content material is easily accessible through a basic Internet browser with no registration, login, or software download required.

Finally, this seems to be carefully planned out and designed for a distance learning environment. However, the planning appears to target a large global audience with wide range of abilities. Simonson et al. (2012) describe a number of ways to engage distance learners through the planning of activities that encourage group work and interactivity to construct a “supportive social environment” (p. 153).  It looks like very little planning was based on an analysis of the learners’ needs and these principles to provide an engaging learning environment.

Online Instruction and Course Activities

This course does provide a great deal of resources and information online to a large global audience with no charge, no registration, and very few restrictions. However, this course includes very few effective instructional and pedagogical activities to maximize active learning.

This course consists of twenty-three online sessions. Each session consists of an overview, a list of resources, a suggested assignment, and a video, audio, and transcript of a lecture that averages 45-55 minutes. The lectures are simply a video recording of a professor conducting a lecture-style presentation in a large hall with many students. All exams and assignments are self-conducted and self-graded. No materials are submitted by the distance learner to the university and the student is not provided with any opportunities to communicate with other students, faculty, or support staff. The material is simply provided online for consumption.

There are some positive aspects of this type of delivery. According to Comier & Siemens (2010), this type of a format is a chance for “faculty to take their work to a new audience” and open up academies through “lectures and learning” via video and television. In addition, this format provides learning that is completely self-directed. Simonson et al. (2012) maintain that one of the main characteristics of distance learners is that they are self-motivated and that they “want and deserve to have as much control of the pace of learning as possible” (p. 176). This course has no beginning or end date and learners proceed through the course at their own pace.

The negative aspects of this type of delivery far outweigh the positives. This course provides no opportunity for peer-peer interaction or student-teacher communication. Simonson et al. (2012) and Comier & Siemens (2010) are among a large number of sources maintaining that effective instruction must consist of learner interaction and instructor two-way communication including feedback to the learner. Web 2.0 technologies such as wiki’s, discussion boards, chat, and group projects should be utilized. “Quality distance learning programs are participatory in that they emphasize the involvement of the learner in all facets of the program development and delivery” (Simonson et al., 2012, p. 173).

Finally, the media elements of this course are not engaging or interactive. The lecture videos can be paused and the user can go forward and back as needed. Also, the audio including musical examples are a very high quality. However, the supplemental visual resources in this course simply include the whiteboard or overhead projector the professor is using during the lecture. Simonson et al. (2012) describe a number of interactive supplemental media that can be utilized including an interactive study guide, calling the ISG an “essential tool of the distance educator” (p. 244). Unfortunately, this course does not implement course activities or elements that provide any opportunity for active learning.

This is a good start to providing accessible resources and information to a broad audience, however many changes will need to be implemented to provide an effective instructional environment through deep interactive engagement with the course material as well as the instructor and other students.

References

About OYC. (2012). About Open Yale Courses. Retrieved from the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu/about

Cormier, D. & Siemens, G. (2010, August 5). Through the open door: Open courses as research, learning, and engagement. Educause Review, 45(4), 30-39. Retrieved from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM1042.pdf

Education Insider. (2012). Colleges and universities that offer free courses online. Retrieved from the Education-Portal website: http://education-portal.com/articles/Colleges_and_Universities_that_Offer_Free_Courses_Online.html

Listening to Music. (2012). Music 112: Listening to music. Retrieved from the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112#overview

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson