At 3:59 PM -0400 3/30/10, dhbailey wrote:
Any program which doesn't reside on my computer and the data files of which I store in my own location separate from the vissicitudes of web businesses failing is not anything I'm interested in.
For music files I certainly agree. But I just ran into something that I may be interested in. (No additional Finale, notation, or allied content; you may safely delete NOW.)
I've just been assigned to teach an online section of Music Appreciation next fall. (I've been teaching Music History for about 18 years, so the content isn't the problem.) But I have a very full summer since my Music History textbook is out of print and I'm having to switch to a new one and revise all my materials, PLUS the university is moving from the Blackboard course management software to a newly-developed one called Scholar (a local variation on Sakai), and that will also be a big drag.
And just this afternoon I learned from the prof. who's been teaching Apprec for many years that he's using a totally on-line course. It's from a company that handles everything on line, there's no textbook, and the students just buy two (expensive!) CDs, register on line, and everything including tests is there, not on my computer at all. As it happens he's meeting with people from that company tomorrow, and I'm going to talk with them.
I may not agree with the educational approach, the kinds of assignments and tests they have, and so on (although I'm not pre-judging them), but if it'll let me kick-start a new class instead of forcing me to re-invent the wheel, I'll probably sign on. I can always pull out at a later time.
So there's good and bad in everything--but then we already knew that! John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[email protected]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
