RARPA Case StudyApril '04
Department: Music
Programme Area: Music Technology
Course: Cubase Sequencing 3MK506
Course duration: 10 weeks/30 hours
Level: Beginner
No of students: 7
Tutor: Karina Townsend
Aims
Procedures in place for establishing clearly stated aims for the course:
Music tech courses are co-ordinated by a tutor co-ordinator who consults all tutors delivering courses in the design of Course Outlines (COs). These state several broad aims for each course. An example of the CO for the present course is included in Appendix A.
Aims clearly communicated and understood by all learners on the course:
COs are available online in advance. Hard copies are distributed to each learner at the first meeting. Tutors read through the CO with the student group to reiterate, conceptualise and demystify explicit aims. Student questions are invited and answered from the outset, to clarify what is a complex subject. Statements of Learning (SOLs) derive from these COs and students complete the beginning of course column according to their initial abilities as to each aim. Appendix B gives an example of the SOL used in the present course. Tutors check the SOLs with students to establish that they are understood and completed.
Arrangements existing for establishing individual aims within a group of learners:
Students introduce themselves to the group and to describe their music making and computer using experience. They also describe any equipment they are using at home, and share any experiences of using their particular set-up. Several students mention what difficulties they have and what they are particularly hoping to learn on the course. The tutor records any specific equipment described. Students' equipment is also described on in Initial Questionnaire (IQ) which music tech tutors use to document and assess their group. An example of the IQ is given in Appendix C along with the student-specific notes made during session 1.
The SOL explicitly asks students to describe any additional specific aims they have for their personal learning during the course.
Procedures in place for negotiating, reviewing or amending these aims during the delivery of the course:
Course delivery features a recap of previous work partly to contextualise new topics but also as a means of assessing student learning and understanding and retention. The tutor makes frequent use of Q&A and class/pair/individual observation to ensure that each student is achieving the aims of each lesson. Whenever possible, students are given individual support appropriate to their level and progress. Students are frequently asked how they feel about the This course also featured a short formative test in week 5. Each student was asked to begin a new project from scratch, and to include the topics covered to date on the course. The tasks were put sequentially on a checklist, which asked the students to rate each activity as 'easy', 'OK', or 'hard'. The tutor used these subjective checklists partly to objectively rate the students' progress at the half-way mark, but also, to inform the subsequent delivery, for example to build in revision topics. This checklist is given in Appendix D.
Initial Assessment
Procedures in place to establish clearly the starting point for each individual learner before the beginning of the course:
SOLs are completed at the start of the course. IQs (questionnaires) were further used as a means of quickly getting an understanding of every student's initial state. These questionnaires provide a snapshot of each student according to their musical experience, instrumental ability, if they own or share a computer and whether they have used any music software in the past. Importantly, it also asks if they have access to music making software outside the course.
Records kept of these procedures and of the outcomes for each individual learner:
There is a course folder to keep these IQs and the SOLs for reference during the course. This also contains a scheme of work (SOW) allowing notes to be made according to group and individual progress. The SOW for this course is given in Appendix E.
This course used a modified SOL where the tutor rated each student's progress at the halfway mark (using the self-assessment test to inform the tutor's observations). Objective and subjective summative assessment at the end of the course was recorded on the SOL where the initial aims were revisited and considered by the tutor and the student.
Procedures and outcomes appropriate to the length, level and aims of the course:
The music tech tutor team meets regularly to monitor and assess the strengths and any weaknesses of courses. Cubase sequencing courses are taught by three tutors who share SOWs and various learning materials in order to standardise the courses as far as possible.
On completion, students are all asked to provide feedback on courses and are asked if they have any suggestions or comments regarding the course. We have found that the majority of these feedback forms find the courses to be an appropriate length and level and that the mix of theory and practical material is appropriately balanced.
Learning Objectives
Procedures in place through which suitably challenging learning objectives are set for the course:
Learning objectives are set each week according to the lesson aims, which build, week upon week, to meet the broad aims described in the CO. An example of an individual lesson plan is given in Appendix F. Every session features a mix of theory and practice as the overriding aim of the course is to promote independent confident working and importantly, informed experimentation and personal study.
Objectives clearly stated and communicated to all learners on the course:
In each session, lesson aims are set out on the whiteboard to introduce the session and keep topics clearly in mind throughout. The aims are discussed and described in terms of learning objectives so students understand what they will be doing each week, and why.
Arrangements in place to review and revise objectives during the course on the basis of feedback from individual learners:
Verbal feedback from students and observation of practical work continually inform the pace of delivery and subsequent lesson planning. The latter is the crux of ongoing assessment.
Particularly in the case of this beginners' course, musicianship and musical ability varied widely. For some students, they were actually learning about music in addition to specific software. For such students, it was vital to ensure that they had sufficient technical ability to experiment with the materials of music for themselves, and as many routes into music composition as possible. Graphic input methods proved excellent as a means of introducing rhythm and composition to reinforce the notion of pulse and duration, for example for those who had never played an instrument.
Formative Assessment
Procedures in place to support the process of formative assessment on the course:
Each session featured a 'public performance' of work undertaken in the session. This was by means of the central mixer and monitor speakers permitting the tutor to route individual workstation output to the main speakers. Students played their work and discussed their working methods and any difficulties they had overcome in the session. Peer feedback was encouraged and was universally acknowledged as very useful and enjoyable. Several lasting friendships were formed on the basis of music made.
In addition, this central mixer permits the tutor to monitor via headphones what individual students are doing so the tutor can choose to intervene where necessary or appropriate.
SOLs were updated by the tutor at the half-way mark, after considering the task checklist completed by students. The tutor discussed their self-assessment with each student used this to pinpoint particular topics and techniques to revise with individuals and in some cases, the whole group.
Effective arrangements for advising and supporting staff involved in the process of formative assessment:
The tutor has completed a Post-Compulsory PGCE and has tutored many full and part-time adult learners over the past 10 years. As tutor co-ordinator, she is responsible for the ongoing professional development of the music tech team and via meetings and group emails, examples of reflective practice are shared and discussed with the tutor team. Tutor observation is also routinely undertaken as a means of sharing ideas of good practice, including formative assessment.
Effective procedures in place to record feedback to learners from this process, and to link it to the review of individual learning objectives:
The midway task checklist documents subjective progress. It was used to give feedback to students and to enable the student to reflect on what had been achieved and how this related to the learning objectives covered to date.
Learner self-assessment used on the course and its efficacy:
The very nature of the subject matter meant that students were frequently self-assessing, explicitly in the practical phases. The technology relays student work directly back via headphones and graphically on-screen. The learning strongly is goal driven, students clearly want to refine and edit their work and the tutor observed increasing competence and fluency in the use of the program to compose and arrange music throughout the entire group.
Effective progress reviews as a structured feature of the course:
The public performance was a very popular means of reviewing progress in a shared fashion. This gave the tutor the chance to highlight (revise) particular techniques employed by selected students, and further, to refer to techniques students had discovered for themselves. The tutor aimed to 'sum up' the progress made each week and in one-to-one work, to reiterate specific progress to individual students.
Arrangements for recording the outcomes of formative assessment and learner reflection on these outcomes:
Sessions either asked students to begin new work, or, to open previous work and save it under a different name. This way, students could refer to earlier work to assess for themselves how they were progressing.
Concepts of progress and achievement communicated effectively to learners:
Progress and achievement were frequently elucidated by the tutor, through public performances and during one-to-one activity. Also during group Q&A activities. They were also communicated effectively amongst learners via peer review. The evidence is in the music that was made which was increasingly sophisticated and well produced.
Summative Assessment
Effective procedures in place to conduct end-of-course assessment:
Every student completes at least one well-produced piece that they burn to audio CD. A measure of competence is the ability to produce more pieces in the available time. Greater confidence and competence permit quicker working and therefore more pieces. Towards the last quarter of the course, students undertake this major project and it is during this phase that perhaps the greatest opportunities exist for objective tutor assessment. In addition, students are able to take data files of their work away on CD to permit them to continue to refine their work given the appropriate equipment beyond the course.
Are there effective systems in place to advise and support staff involved in the process of end-of-course assessment?
Every tutor is required to complete an objective summative assessment for each student on the SOL. The student also self-assesses themselves according to the explicit aims. There is also a chance to add anything additional that they feel they have achieved on the course. As to support to staff, please see Formative assessment point 2.
Are there effective systems in place to record the outcomes of this assessment?
The SOL documents these assessments.
Procedures and documentation in place through which a summative statement on progress and achievement is agreed with learners:
The tutor completed the SOL after the student had made their self-assessment and the final assessments were discussed with each student as a means of reinforcing what had been achieved, and, in most cases, to pinpoint possibilities for progression to further private study, home studio set-up or other courses.
Use made of effective learner self-assessment in this stage of the process:
Please see the SOL. The summative assessment was informed partly by the students' self-assessment in addition to tutor observation.
Use made of effective peer assessment at this stage of the process:
As with all sessions, peer assessment played a major role. Students were able to play their audio CDs to each other and discuss ways to develop their work in future projects.
How is the process of summative assessment explicitly linked to individual learning objectives?
Because of the wide range of individual objectives (eg, "to make and record my own music" to "to get my audio card and keyboard working at home") it is difficult to document all objectives for all students. Nonetheless, the tutor was able to point to these individual objectives and discuss with students how far they had gone in achieving these. In the case of those wanting to get their own equipment working, this clearly had been achieved during the course, and in the case of two students, tutor support via email is ongoing.
Does the process of summative assessment record outcomes not anticipated in the learning objectives identified for the course?
Not explicitly although some of the audio pieces clearly showed the inclusion of material and techniques that weren't explicitly covered in the course, for example where one student combined an audio technique from another course with his MIDI sequencing work. One student said that they had learned more about themselves, in terms of "sticking at something that they found hard".
Are the outcomes of this process clearly related to concepts of progress and achievement?
To have made an audio CD of original work from scratch in 10 weeks is clearly a measure of progress and achievement in itself. The fact that two of the students envisaged playing their pieces when they were DJ'ing and one was using their work as part of a portfolio for Higher Education shows how students viewed their achievement.
Are effective records kept by both learners and tutors on the outcomes of summative assessment?
Tutors retain and use the SOL using them to inform their Tutor Evaluations of the course. These are ultimately kept my the tutor co-ordinator and entered into an electronic database. Students may request copies of the completed SOL and a Tutor Report of their progress and achievement.
Further Thoughts on Completion of the Course
Formalised self-assessment: although the tutor is asked to make an objective assessment of the students' progress at the halfway point, I feel that students should also be asked to assess themselves at this point.
At the end of the course, I believe that students tended to under-rate themselves according to the learning aims and it may have been helpful to ask them to rate themselves halfway to really ask them to reflect on what they had achieved at that point.
In addition, the learning aims set out on the Course Outline are quite broad. In fact, many of them could be seen as being covered in the halfway task which all students who completed it found to be quite 'do-able'.
Looking at the task from week 5, I believe that this gives a much clearer indication of student progress than the Statement of Learning. However, it would be inappropriate to ask students to rate themselves on such a wide array of learning outcomes at the outset of the course as it would be bewildering and potentially destructive.
Perhaps it is an inherent difficulty in the Statement of Learning format. Students may not truly realise that they have reached the broad aims even when they actually have. Perhaps then it is a conceptual problem and in future, I may spend more time with students in breaking down the broad aims to map to topics we have covered on the course so they can self-assess more realistically.
Interestingly, the male students who completed the course tended to rate themselves more highly than the female students and the high proportion of female students on the course (highly unusual) may have skewed the final self-assessments.
The additional documentation used in music technology was developed in response to the acute need to truly understand new students' starting point immediately. This is particularly important, as students usually have to share workstations (this was an unusually small class). It gives the tutor a 'headstart' in making choices as to student pairings and perceived differentiation needs.
It is noteworthy that the student who wanted to go on to HE was subsequently offered at least one place on the basis of the material she had done in this and the complimentary Cubase Audio course she undertook at the same time. Noteworthy especially as the institution was satisfied with her portfolio rather than an actual qualification (though she would be classified as a 'mature' student).