One way to approach the problem is to identify the elements of the summer course that I like, so that I can translate or adapt the elements to the regular-term environment.
Here's an initial list of things I like about the summer edition of the course:
- Facebook group conversation should be kept in the mix. I've used Blackboard discussion forums quite a bit in the past, but Facebook is working well and has a lot of advantages in terms of flexibility, familiarity, visible commenting (you don't have to click to see short comments, and longer ones can be expanded or not according to one's own choosing). There are other advantages as well, but I'll leave it at that for now!
- The combination of Facebook group conversation and blog-posting should be kept. I like that blogging is solo while Facebook is social. This is a healthy balance. I also like that blogging familiarizes students with this genre of new-media text composition. Some students may end up being bloggers at some point in their lives. (This is much more likely than being a writer of six-paragraph essays in any case.) There may be some issues to resolve about which platform to use when, and/or for what purposes, but at this point in time these seem like resolvable issues. I will likely ask the summer group what they think about all of this.
- Speaking of asking, I like the use of Google forms to gather feedback on a fairly regular basis about workload, perceived relevance, etc. This element needs to be continued.
- I also like the fact that the summer edition has a real purpose (this purpose is for the most part running in the background, but it is definitely there and definitely real). This purpose is to build a databank of information resources and perspective/people resources on the topic of composition. For example this morning I noted in an email to the class that we seemed to be lacking resources on the individual variations of composition, the process-related differences in the details between, for example, music composition and dance composition. So I'm asking them to help fill that gap by doing interviews. My point is that the purpose here is not for them to do this so they can get credit or get a good grade, but rather the point is to help build a good databank that others will go to and use. So this element needs to carry forward as well.
- I suppose I need to say this, too: the small summer class-size needs to be kept in the mix! I say this even though there are usually 20 students enrolled in the regular-term sections, and the summer edition has 11.
RESPONSE TO #5
I'm starting with the last one on the list, since it is the big one. How to deal with the sheer number of students in DMA in the regular term. It has been the major roadblock for me. 120 students taking the DMA class per term is a lot of students. At our school, given that the overall enrollment is so small, this constitutes a LARGE class. The 120 is officially divided into 3 sections of 40 students each, and each of those 3 sections are unofficially subdivided into 6 sections of 20 students each. Each of the 6 subsections meets once per week face to face, either on a Tuesday or on a Thursday.
At other institutions, large classes may be REALLY LARGE, as in 600 students, but it's important to note that the similarity between the DMA course and its larger cousins remains strong if one adjusts for context.
At other institutions, the REALLY LARGE classes often involve lectures being delivered in large auditorium rooms to the entire class enrollment, and "discussion sections" meeting in smaller rooms in various locations. The instructor in such courses is responsible for the course design and content, managing the teaching assistants for the course, and of course for delivering the lectures. Teaching assistants are responsible for "reading" papers and so forth, for teaching in the discussion sections, and for handling various administrative tasks including much of the grading.
The "lectures" I give are typically at the end of learning-units, so they are more like wrap-up presentations. DMA would never be a front-loaded lecture course in the classic/traditional sense. I could try to arrange to get a large auditorium scheduled, and give my wrap-up presentations to the entire 120 students, but it would be much easier for me (and better for students I think) if I recorded these wrap-ups --in whatever format, they could be written, audio, video, or all of the above-- and posted them online. This would clear some face to face time for other activities, and without other changes would leave the "discussion sections" at 20 students per section, one meeting per week. 20 is larger than the usual discussion section. A maximum of 15 per section is more the norm. (15 is also the enrollment cap on the summer edition of DMA.)
Theoretically I could informally subdivide each section of 40 students into 3 subsections of 15 students or less, and then I'd have 9 discussion sections.
Let's say 9 discussion sections is what I need in order to truly address the issue of class size articulated in #5 above. What then happens to my working life? Well, it's certain that I could not meet all of the sections! It is demanding enough to meet 6 sections. Meeting 9 sections would be impossible.
But what if I had teaching assistants? I've thought of this before, but it's always struck me as insurmountable given that our school does not have a large population of graduate students, and none of the ones we have are in the Division of Liberal Arts.
But what if I were to create a 'practicum' course so that I could have teaching assistants that way? Ideally it would be for students who want to work on leadership skills and teaching skills. Then I could assume a role similar to the one large-class professors typically have at other institutions. I'd be responsible for designing the course (including curriculum and pedagogy), managing the teaching assistants, and disseminating the materials --including perhaps unit-opening and unit-wrap-up presentations.
Lastly, what if the teaching assistants only had to do one thing: manage a Facebook group discussion? I would be responsible for posing questions, and communicating with the teaching assistants, and occasionally checking-in on the discussions, and the teaching assistants would keep students on track and participate as well. It's possible that there are 9 students out there that have had the DMA course and would be willing to be a teaching assistant if they got practicum course credit for doing so. The face to face classroom would then be used as an open-studio. Anyone that wanted to use it would have to take part in managing and and maintaining it. It could be used for all sorts of media production purposes, including as a center for online course development. DMA would, in this scenario, become a fully online course.
That's a fair number of "what-ifs" but it's feasible all the same. It's possible for example to have each teaching assistant manage two Facebook groups, and this would reduce the number I'd need to recruit. Managing a couple of discussion sections is also in line with what happens at institutions that have grad students to do such things.
RESPONSE TO #4
How to make it real. The 'figure of the real' is something that could enter the picture in a number of ways. It already has at times, but it could become more obvious and planned. For starters, I started the summer edition already thinking that it might form a template for the first-part (the first few weeks) of the regular-term edition. It would be the "schooling and tooling up" part, which would then be followed by a real-world project component.
This component could be drawn from institutional initiatives (for example the ART\Islam project, the Music Academy of the American South project, the Student Health project, or the 21st Century Student project). It could also enter the picture via digital storytelling, documentary production, or simply by doing what I am doing in this post: namely, work on a real composition problem rooted in one's own life.
RESPONSE TO #3
Getting frequent feedback from students about how things are going is a good idea no matter what, and I have dropped the ball on this mainly due to the volume issue. Once the class gets going (in the way that it is currently designed anyway) I couldn't really change it mid-stream so I have stopped asking for feedback except at the end of the term. By instituting a more communication-rich framework, getting feedback on a regular basis would be part and parcel of the design.
RESPONSE TO #2
The balance of solo writing and social writing seems very solid to me as a concept. And I think blogging and Facebooking are better than other options I might consider for now
RESPONSE TO #1
For quite some time I stayed away from using Facebook in my teaching work because I thought it might seem like an intrusion on students' social world. I will ask the summer group about this. Assuming it's better for them to use Facebook than Blackboard or a Google+ Circle or some other format, I would stick with it based on the experience we're having this summer. Facebook group discussion is proving to be nimble, effective, and versatile, and includes an easy to access group chat window as well, so it makes it convenient to access synchronous and asynchronous tools in one place.
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