The bottom line for running courses is enrolment, retention and achievement. Does the course attract students, do they stay on it, do they get the qualification? This is a target – if you don’t meet it then the course should not run.
My course (a National Certificate in Music) has had its ups and downs! There have been years where I have met the target but this last year I did not. I only enrolled 11 (should be 16), 3 left and of the remaining 8 only 7 will achieve the full qual.

There are lots of reasons for missing this target but the target was mine so I take the rap for not meeting it. It’s a statistic and they don’t come with explanations or mitigating circumstances.
I hope to still keep some teaching role, but not the course co-ordinator role that is primarily a bums on seats task.

So what have I achieved? According to the statistics, not a lot! But I’m allowing myself to look beyond those. Elearning has been (and will continue to be) a passion and I am proud of my own learning in this area and being able to use so many new web tools and services to support learning.
Creative activities; I believe my learners have had an excellent experience in developing their arranging and writing skills, through musical creation activities.
Progression; I’ve kept in touch with many ex-students (through this blog, the ccmmusic network, Facebook and Myspace) and I have a kind of paternal pride in seeing their development – not only if they have progressed in a music career, but progression in life and learning.
Music career guidance – a strong connection between the course content and real work opportunities. And therein lies one of the reasons I’m resigning; I do like to practice what I preach and because of that I learned so much about how I could develop my own musical (non-teaching) career that my freelance work is taking over.

Consolidate your skills and knowledge, keep learning, plan areas to develop, promote and network, use the social web to build your business, self-publish and discuss.  That’s the way to do it!

So what is my take on what a popular music course should look like?
The most successful students (the ones who have got the most from it) have been those with a direct purpose; they are in a band or are performing solo and have a pressing need to develop this. The course is vocational so it should be work-based – work related. Generally (though not exclusively) if a student is just a bedroom musician, not in a band, not doing gigs, not getting involved in the music scene, then they lack the motivation to study. They are amateurs, with a love for music, but not necessarily a love for study and a hunger to work in the music industry.
Beware prejudice! A learner that comes with a disdain for any music other than their niche will be reluctant to embrace multi-skilling. Diversity is a necessity I believe; look for a variety of career development routes in music to keep options alive. It is not enough just to ‘play my guitar’. Being a self-employed musician is a cottage industry where the individual is responsible for everything. The more you have to rely on others for skills and services, the less money you’ll keep for yourself and the less control you will have over your own progress. There will come a time in your career when you will need the specialist skills of others; keep things in your own garden as long as possible!
Sure, the course will have practical activities, band work, but that should be only a spring board to a learner putting new skills and knowledge into practice in their own situation.
I still believe that music language is crucial – theory and aural. We’ve been running the Popular Music Theory grades and these are excellent – possibly the most appropriate music theory books available. Only failing is that they are purely theoretical in terms of the immediate need to pass the exam. The book is littered with references to practical music making, but these do not form part of assessment.

Creative activities that respond to parameters are a great way to promote experimentation and I would put these at the core of the course. This worked well for Arranging and Composing modules.

Digital creative skills; I probably place more emphasis on this than on anything musical! The social web solves that historical problem with musicians of ‘not being found’. Whether they are looking for other musicians to work with, or promoting a particular musical skill (their musical identity) or promoting their band, the social web provides the space, tools and services to do it.

And the ability to use this environment is crucial; the digital skills to produce content (audio, video, images, design and text) and the academic skills to self-publish and network socially in a way that relates to career development.
The online social networking and self-publishing skills have a direct correlation with ‘old school’; meet people, get to know them, establish a mutual relationship, support your peers, have your say, promote yourself. Whether in a physical space or online, many of the facets are the same.

This may be my last blog post on here, as I am concentrating on my blog as a musician at realstrings.com , though I hope to still be actively involved in the fantastic discussions on online about music education.

I’ve made a start with a short screen capture movie. My first attempt and I will cover other aspects and post them on the wiki too.

Find more videos like this on The Splice Group

UPDATE I’ve deleted the dizzler player in this post as it auto-plays an audio track which is really annoying!  It doesn’t do the same thing where I’ve embedded it at ccmmusic.ning.com.

Over night mails came from Ken Lewis (producer based in New York), asking about a sample recreation, Jen (my agent in Toronto) about Samplebase (Los Angeles) and an enquiry about strings (from Moscow).  There were notifications about discussions on the student social network I run (a Ning service) where John Blaylock (singer and writer for International One – now signed and recording debut album) was the guest host.  He totally rocks!  A band in Los Angeles were also enquiring about strings – found me with a google search.  Ken Lewis later agreed to trade some string work for a guest host slot on CCM Music (that is quite a coup!).

I spent the morning answering mails and prepping a presentation about web tools for learning, for staff at Mid Cheshire College.  A quick bit of fiddle practice (trying to get some jazz standards together with guitarist Jason Brown) then off to do the presentation (always a bit stressful) and found out more about the new Creative and Media diploma which is embracing the convergence of skills that all CI practitioners need to wake up to.  As part of the event, we posted a comment on Ken Lewis’s blog – his blogging is a great example of how to reach out from a website, not just present information.

Email updates also about some UK work – a hip-hop project, a movie (my old friend and extraordinary composer Richard Mitchell) and recordings for radio idents.

I’m chipping away at a long term project for Tim Duncan – preparing arrangements and scores for an ice ballet (to be recorded in Moscow end of May), so managed to put some hours in on this.

I just wanted to capture the satisfying feeling of all the bits falling into place!

Your assessment question: how will web tools promote learning in your curriculum area? (Reply to this blog post!)

New Diplomas refocus on core elements of learning:

• team working
• independent enquiry
• self-management
• reflective learning
• effective participation
• creative thinking.

These are traditional educational values!
But we live in a digital world and digital expression (text, design, animation, video, music) is ubiquitous and not restricted to those who can afford expensive technology, not restricted to the immediate locale, not the preserve of institutions and commerce; the individual now has the power to publish, create, share promote and benefit from connecting globally.
If you have something to express, you can now say it to the world and say it imaginatively.
Digital expression and web tools can support all these traditional values.

The New Diplomas also place emphasis on work-related learning.
What will this mean in practice?
Where do the professionals in the creative industries hang out? Online.
It is a disparate industry, populated by many sole traders, freelancers, small businesses – there is not the same tangible industry infrastructure as many other professions, so online communities (often informal) are the 21st Century offices and watering holes. And it’s a global community.

Do you want more work?
Of course not; the web tools you choose, should streamline teaching and learning, stimulating endeavour from the learner, so beware of getting bogged down in presenting information, rather look to provoke activity from learners.

Overview of some tools.

VLE, LMS, MLE are all acronyms associated with online environments that an institution provides for teachers to teach in. (Rather like a space with facilities).
A common tool is Moodle. It’s free, has plenty of great features and many institutions use it, so many teachers and learners will have experienced its look and feel.

A short Moodle tour.

Creative work – videos and comments
Music in Society – forums
Sound and Music Industry – online text assignments
Music Language – resources and year plan

For conformity (and maybe equality of opportunity) an institution with a VLE will reasonably expect all staff to use this tool for their courses, but there are plenty of non-institutional online tools to use. My selection inevitably reflects my personal experiences and preferences, but (just like teaching in the classroom) there are many ways to crack the nut!

I’m going to focus on blogs, wikis and social networks. These all have common features – spaces for anyone to self-publish, communicate and collaborate.

Blogs – a short tour
Ken Lewis’s blog.
About Edublogs for teaching.

Wikis – a short tour.
Elearning for music
Music language wiki
A wiki used collaboratively

Social Networks – a short tour of the CCM Music Ning and an example of a virtual guest lecture.

classroom20.ning.com
ccmmusic.ning.com

As well as the grander benefits of self-publishing these online tools offer, there are also benefits in managing some practicalities. Writing online provides evidence; all published work is stored, date and author stamped. Writing needn’t be in isolation – when you are writing online you do so expecting a response. Media is easily integrated in the presentation process. There is nothing to ‘collect in’ – it exists for all to see (who have permission to see it). It is the start of a portfolio of life long learning.

How will Web 2.0 tools promote learning in your curriculum area?
Why am I asking you to respond to this question (by replying here)?

Assessment is a key element of learning. The new IFL standards require teachers to not only undertake professional development but to reflect on it. By responding here, you have a record of not only your evaluation, but the original notes and resources from the session and the reflections of your colleagues.

Post your reply here! New Diplomas training day and only one thing on their minds!

ccmmusic.ning.com is a social network for current and former students and staff of the large music department at City College Manchester, It has been running since September 2007 and sprang out of 2 specific needs identified by students: 1] the lack of connections between courses and campuses, 2] the lact of a homepage and online identity in the college Moodle A 3rd impetus for the network came from my personal experience of teaching and learning in the Moodle environment. where it became clear that activities are more valuable than resources. This is no surprise, as the good practice of the classroom will translate into good practice online. And a 4th impetus came from the JISC funded project SPLICE, run by Mark Johnson at Bolton University, to explore social networking in the creative industries. The social network uses the Ning service and some students have been quick to exploit it, connecting and collaborating in ways that would not have happened otherwise. But other benefits are becoming apparent; learners are gaining confidence in self publishing and networking, they are no longer constrained by the institutions timetable and class structures, they are in one big class, exploring the aspects of music that most interest them, they are getting (and giving) peer feedback, they are able to dictate the space and be content creators. A video tour of the network (recorded in December 2007) is at homepage.mac.com/ccmmusic/ccmmusicning.mov

. Even staff are blogging – reflecting on their professional development and sharing this with the community. In many ways, promoting learning in a social network is counter-institutional, even subversive, but it is putting the learner first, in an environment where learners taking part is more important than teachers delivering. It feels like I’ve created a space, put some cool facilities in there, then chucked the learners in to get on with it! The site has by no means reached critical mass and I am still exploring ways to drive it. The next step is to replicate the benefits of guest lectures in the online environment. Music professionals are being funded to ‘hang out’ in the network for a week and stir things up a bit, by responding to discussions, blogs and student work.

Online learning – getting started

Session outcomes:
• Identify uses for online learning in your teaching.
• Find help for your own Moodle development.

What is Moodle?
Moodle is a virtual learning environment (VLE) or Learning Management System (LMS). It is an online space where you can extend the teaching and learning that goes on in your classroom to a virtual space, and where you and your learners are not restricted to the walls of the college or the timetable. Beautiful.

What can it achieve?
It can be a space to store resources (like handouts and assignment briefs) BUT it is better used as a space for activities, like discussions, reflections, collaboration, writing and formative assessment. It has the added bonus of mixing in digital media (audio and video) with traditional text. When students write online there is no need for submission of work – it is simply there. Contributions to forums can be used as assessment evidence. It is a cool tool and students expect online activities to be part of their daily lives.

How do I get into Moodle?
Go to moodle.ccm.ac.uk and click on your area.

Log in with your college network username and password.
The space is split into FE, HE, Staff and The Arden. To enrol on an existing course (aka – having a nosey round), click the ‘all courses’ link on the right side of the page, choose a course and ‘enrol’. WARNING! The ‘all courses’ link is tiny so you have to look hard for it! If you want to look in NC Music, it is under ‘Arts – Music’. The enrolment key is ‘music’.

How can I set up a Moodle area for my course?
In the college VSR (virtual staff room) click on the elearning link, then the ‘request a course’ link. Or go directly to http://staff.ccm.ac.uk/help/moodle.asp (The VSR is getting a makeover so this link may not work).
Fill in this form and a course will be set up for you.
WARNING! Before you are ‘known’ by the Moodle system you should log in to one or more of the Moodle spaces at moodle.ccm.ac.uk , then do the course request thing.

When the course is created (by a man in a back room somewhere) you will see the course name next time you log in to Moodle. Now you can start pimping your page; click the ‘turn editing on’ button and edit away in your browser.

How do students enrol on my course?
The initial enrolling process is a bit of a faff, but not too painful.
This is a one-time registration process. After this is done, logging in for a student is with their student number for BOTH username and password.
There is a ‘help’ video at http://homepage.mac.com/ccmmusic/moodleenrol.mov

1. Go to moodle.ccm.ac.uk
2. Click on your area.
3. Use your student number for username and password. If this doesn’t work, go to the learning centre and ask for your network password to be reset.
4. This takes you to the Profile page
5. Please make sure you have entered information in all the following boxes
• Email address- City College E Mail only please. This is just your ‘student number’@citycol.com’
• Enter something in the City or Town box
• Enter something in ‘description’ – any comment will do
6. Upload a photo by hitting browse and adding a picture of yourself – though not essential, this gives you more of an identity other than ‘Mr Spongehead’
7. Click ‘update profile’
8. From your profile page, click the CCMFE link (top left)
9. Click on ‘all courses’ which is under ‘course categories’ on the right of the page.
10. Scroll down and find your course and click on the name
11. Students may need an enrolment key, which the tutor sets up. Click ‘enrol me on this course’
12. Congratulations – you are now enrolled on to MOODLE. In future all you need to do is go to moodle.ccm.ac.uk , click on your area and enter your student number as username and password.

Is there more to online learning than Moodle?
Yes indeed! There are numerous free web tools and services that can be used in conjunction with Moodle. You may already be familiar with YouTube and Flickr. CCM is getting its own video sharing site – OurTube, as well as a podcasting service.
Here are a few that light my fire at the moment:
Ning – a DIY social network. Ning has more ’social’ aspects than the learning management system that is Moodle. Users get a homepage where they create an online identiy. It is easy to upload and share digital media (photos, audio, video), it promotes blogs and discussions, and it is generally less formal (but more snazzy) than Moodle. At CCM, the music team is using a Ning to connect students across all courses. www.ning.com. There is a teachers’ Ning at classroom20.ning.com
Wikis – these are online writing and collaboration spaces. www.wikispaces.com
Blogs – another online writing space, not just a web diary! Try edublogs.org and there are many others.
Jing – a video tool to make screen capture movies – useful for lesson recaps. www.jingproject.com

Where do I get help?
Like any new techy process, there is a bit of pain to go through to get started, but nothing that involves heavy-weight nerdiness. There are help documents and discussions in the Staff Moodle, there is a Moodle administrator (Tim Blackburn) and elearning guru (Steve Butler).
Pete Whitfield also has some funding this year (07-08) to support elearning development, so please feel free to make use of that.
pwhitfield@ccm.ac.uk 07958 708661

Any learning session should gather evidence of knowledge, so please respond (by posting a comment to this blog) to this quesion: How could online learning be most effectively used in your curriculum?

So I have decided to resign my current teaching post (2.5 days a week) in the summer to concentrate on aspects of work that I want to focus on as my specialisms; string arranging and elearning. The former continues to grow and the latter I just can’t get enough of, though I’m not sure how I can turn my passion into employment.

I’ve found Moodle to be a fantastic course environment which has certainly extended learning beyond the confines of the classroom and timetable, promoted peer and self evaluations, assisted with evidence building through electronic portfolios, as well as making best use of interactive formative and summative assessment and digital media (particularly video recordings of every practical session). My reflections are here.
But social tools (with features beyond the current infrastructure of Moodle) mean the learning process as offered by an institution can and must change, through self publishing, communities of interest, discussions and collaborations. I’m currently involved with the SPLICE project making extensive use of the Ning platform. The cultural change required to truly embrace digital tools is enormous and I don’t underestimate the  task, but that is something I want to do, and, indeed, I can’t stop myself doing it!

So, my plan is, to retain (hopefully) some part time teaching and develop involvement with institutions where I can specialise in elearning for music and bring about change for both teachers and learners.  I need to explore funding as the sort of role I believe would bring value to a department (I’ll call it etutor for now) is not yet typically part of the strategy.

I have, through practice and my personal CPD activities been a voracious learner in the past few years, following an exponential curve in my experiences of elearning in my subject area.  Even though my professional musical work seems to be taking over, I most certainly don’t want to lose my involvement with music education.

He’s set up some parameters to get a music education blogger ‘in the club’ (like 2 posts per month and contribute to conversations elsewhere) but I don’t think he’ll be sending the boys round if you miss your targets. This got me reflecting on my own online activity of late; I crashed and burned a few months back when my laptop died. I had no backup of rss and podcast feeds and I’ve been playing catchup ever since. But also my ‘portfolio’ of online activity is now much more disparate than just a single blog.  My string arranging blog, a few wikis, a few more nings (including 2 I manage for student activity) and my institution’s Moodle areas.  (Not to mention Facebook and Myspace)  And then I’m dabbling with Twitter.  So, in my defence your honour, that’s why posts in this blog have been thin on the ground!  But I love being part of the global conversations, ‘cos talking is good!

Here are Joe’s parameters:

1. You must have (or have started) a blog site and not a simple website. 
2. You must agree to post 2 or more posts per month about a topic that is interesting to you, your students, the music audience as a whole, etc. that related to music education and/or music technology in the classroom environment. Literally, you can almost blog about anything related… the “world is your oyster!”
3. You must agree to not “covet” your materials and share them with the world under a creative commons license (your pick!).
4. You must actively participate in our “global conversation” about our field by joining in the conversation with others:
   1. Agreeing to comment on two others ME Bloggers posts per month
   2. Share your blog with others by linking to the other ME Bloggers in either your blogroll or a page of ME Bloggers
   3. Agreeing to answer legitimate quesions by ME Bloggers and others that post questions on your site in a timely manner.
5. Let me know you exist!  Comment after this post, or visit our contact page!
6. When you become an ME blogger, post about our campaign as much as you want, tell your friends…we know this is going to be a long haul…let’s take the first step together!

I reckon I’m doing OK with most of those (as long I can include blog posts beyond this blog) – just need to blog roll and rss my disparate online activity in one place, and subscribe to the other group bloggers and get talking!