Stephen F. Zdzinski, Ph.D.

At the beginning of the 2000 summer semester at the University of South Carolina, the Blackboard Courseinfo Software Program was adopted University-wide as a web-based teaching platform and the software was made available for instructor use. The software includes a number of web components, including areas for course announcements, course information, assignments, quizzes and tests, external links, and a discussion board. The software is relative easy for both instructors and students to use.

Many of the undergraduate music education courses in the School of Music have adopted Blackboard Classrooms. One of the most successful uses of the software has been to assist in the teaching of MUED 200, Practicum in Music Education, which is an introduction to the music education profession.

All music education majors at the University of South Carolina are required to take this class. The purposes of this class are to orient music education majors to the profession, have students begin to develop a music education philosophy, and systematically observe music teaching and music learning in schools. The class meets one hour per week and students receive credit hour for the class. The class is graded using a pass-fail system. Approximately forty students from all music education areas are enrolled in the class each term.

Guest speakers from our music education faculty and music education doctoral students provide weekly lectures on a wide variety of music education-related topics. Topics covered in the lectures serve as the basis for later classroom and electronic discussion. These include music education philosophy, student teaching in music, music education concentration areas, technology in music instruction, multicultural and international music education, music for special learners, and state & national standards in music. In addition, students are required to observe a wide variety of music classes and rehearsals in schools. These observations also serve to generate classroom discussion.

In the past, students have written reaction papers to each of the guest speakers, and feedback was given on each of the reaction papers. This was replaced in the Fall of 1999 with a listserv discussion group, but with 40-60 students in the class, the volume of email became excessive. With the use of the Blackboard platform, the weekly reaction paper and listserv discussion formats have been replaced by a web-based electronic discussion board (Figure 1).

Blackboard is a web-based platform for course delivery and instructor-student communication. Features of this software include a common interface Campus-wide, easy input of course information by both instructor and student, and easy access via the internet to the WebPages by both students and instructors. No knowledge of HTML or multimedia programming is needed to use the program. The University of South Carolina Blackboard homepages can be accessed via blackboard.sc.edu. Log in as a guest by clicking on the preview button, and follow the links to MUED 200.

There are a number of course areas that students can access from the blackboard homepage. These areas include announcements, course and staff information, various course documents, course assignments, online tests, external links, and the discussion board. Instructors also have course areas not accessible by students, and have control of content areas, course options, user management (i.e., adding and deleting users), an assessment creation tool, and an online gradebook.

The Blackboard software was used in a number of ways by students enrolled in the course. These included access to course announcements and course information, exploration of external links on topics related to music education, access to their course grade on the on-line Gradebook, and the use of the Blackboard discussion group pages.

One of the goals of the class is to have student begin to develop reflective thinking skills, that is, to begin to become a reflective practitioner. In the Discussion Board area (see Figure 2), questions were posed based on the topic of each guest speaker’s lecture. The questions posed served as part of our ongoing classroom discussion, and were designed to have students think about and respond to philosophical issues related to the music education profession. Students then used their responses and the responses of other members of the class to help formulate their initial music education philosophy. The topics and questions were as follows:

Student & Teacher Discussion of the reasons why one wants to become a music teacher.

Please describe your favorite teacher and why she or he was your favorite teacher. Also, describe your worst teacher and why he or she was the worst? What qualities make a superior teacher?

Why do YOU think we should have music in the schools? Is music a subject that can be cut in times of economic hardship? Why or Why not? Why does music deserve a place in our school curricula?

In your opinion, how does one learn music? Describe the process of music learning as you understand it. Why is it important as a music teacher to understand how children learn music?

This topic is for questions and comments about student teaching. What would you like to know? What do you think student teaching will be like? What are your greatest fears about student teaching? What do you need to know in order to be a good student teacher?

Comment on how your non-music education courses contribute to your preparation as a music educator. Include in your comments music courses (i.e. applied music, ensembles, history & theory), education courses, and academic courses.

In your opinion, what role should competition play in music instruction? How is competition beneficial and how is it detrimental to a music program? At what ages is competition appropriate?

How will special learners and students with diverse abilities and backgrounds impact your job as a music teacher? What do you need to know in order to deal with these challenges? Should special learners be included in your classroom? Why or why not?

How will non-music teaching duties impact your future life as a music teacher. What are the most important non-teaching tasks that music teachers do? In what areas do you feel prepared to do these activities? In what areas do you need more preparation?

Share your most interesting observation stories here. Include both the good and the bad. Also, think about both student response and teacher behaviors, and such things as room decor, classroom management techniques, teaching techniques, and classroom/rehearsal dynamics.

Students in the class were required to respond to each question, and all students had access to each response. Responses to other student comments were also encouraged. As the semester progressed, and students got used to using the software, comments became more and more extensive, and many student comments were quite insightful. Students created better responses, in part, because they knew that their classmates would be reading their comments.

As an example of the types of student response obtained using this technology, the following edited responses were taken from discussion responses. These are typical of the majority of the classroom responses provided by the members of the class.

There were many benefits of using Blackboard in MUED 200. First, students had better access to varying viewpoints because they were able to read each other’s responses to the weekly discussion question. As a result, their responses became better each week, as the students knew that others would be reading and using their responses. Another benefit is that by using a WebPage-based bulletin board rather than a listserv, excess email was eliminated, and students were more likely to read others’ responses rather than delete endless email messages. Students still had access to the responses, but at a time convenient to them, and all the messages were stored on the server.

Another major benefit of Blackboard use was a marked increase in student response, both in and out of class. Using the Blackboard Courseinfo Platform, students were able to respond to questions in a more reflective manner. Students who were normally quiet in a class of 60 students were able to express their views via the website, thus creating a place for their discussion that previously did not exist. Students expressed the feeling that with the website, their responses would be heard. This increase in response also resulted in greater self-reflection on the part of the students. The class became a community of scholars exploring the field of music education.

One of the primary reasons for using the Blackboard Courseinfo software was to help students to write better initial music education philosophies. This goal was achieved. The philosophies written by the students were tremendously improved. Students wrote much more sophisticated philosophies than in previous semesters, using both their Blackboard responses and the responses of their classmates to help to inform their emerging philosophical viewpoints.

The final topic of the class for the semester dealt with the use of technology in music teaching, as well as an evaluation of the usefulness of the Blackboard Courseinfo Platform. Here are some typical responses:

• I think using technology is a wonderful way to keep learning fresh and exciting. Computers and the internet are available to a great majority of Americans, and this service should be utilized. The Blackboard discussion board was a great tool - once I was able to get into it. I think it served this class' purpose well and would be beneficial to many other classes. It's important that more teachers be informed of this system.
• Even though I am not a computer enthusiast, it was relatively easy to participate in this discussion group. It is also rewarding that people who may not feel comfortable speaking in class get to express their ideas in a venue such as this. I don't think that website discussions could ever replace the value of communicating face to face with actual people but they are very useful
• I think it is absolutely amazing what we can do with computers and other technological advances. I also think that using the blackboard has encouraged classroom discussion. By commenting on issues that we discuss in class, we are conducting class without being in the classroom. In addition, when we are in the classroom, it has been easier to discuss topics because we have already been expressing our opinions on the blackboard. I have really enjoyed this class. It has given me new insight that I need to prepare myself for the education world.

As can be seen by these comments, the platform was well received by the students in the class. Student reflection, the quality of classroom discussion and both teacher-to-student and student-to-student communication was enhanced through the use of this tool.