Third Class: Fri, Jan 30

Today’s Specials - Wolfgang Mozart and the Man In Black

8:30 am is a very unfortunate time for a Friday morning class on Legislation and Risk Management…and the fact that it is a bitterly cold and blustery winter day does little to lift spirits.

Perhaps, Mozart could help?

As my Rec 130 “in-class” students trudge in to their warm classroom they are treated to the pleasing strands of Mozart’s famous Piano Concerto No 21. On the screen was a picture of Mozart which I had earlier downloaded from You Tube and imported to the AGENDA for today’s class.

Similarly, after they login to Contact North to access today’s session my “e-class” students are likewise welcomed by the sounds of Mozart…they are quickly forgiven for thinking they are in the wrong class.

What is going on here?

One significant advantage of using Contact North’s e-learning technology is the ability to locate and download almost instantly an endless selection of educational resources to assist learning…or to simply jazz up the beginning of a class on a dreary winter day...well perhaps Mozart wasn’t the best choice…so in fairness, I also downloaded and played a few musical gems from everyone’s favourite country and western recording artist: Mr. Johnny Cash.

It occurred to me that e-technology makes it relatively simple to engage students in brief discussions and conversations about a range of topics…some course related and some not.

Surely, as college educators part of our responsibility is to turn students on to all learning; regardless, if the learning is directly related to our specific course outcomes.

I am convinced that seemingly extraneous learning does not distract from the delivery or the reception of our course content. In fact, I would vehemently argue the reverse is true...college students benefit greatly if classes are exciting and relevant and if students learn to view their courses as only a small part of a total life-long learning process. Further evidence of the relevance of extending learning opportunities can perhaps be best summarized by these common quotes: Learning is a Journey...Life is all about process not content.

To be clear, this is not to advocate that core course content be sacrificed so that students may be exposed to other non-course related material. What I am suggesting; however, is that e-learning technology makes it possible for educators to enliven classes and to engage students without compromising course integrity.

The power of e-learning to stimulate discussion and future learning was evident at the start of my third class. After Mozart was silenced we spent a few brief minutes talking about Mozart and his musical genius.

I was surprised to learn that not one college student knew the definition of the term concerto. As we continued our discussions, an “e-class” student found and posted the definition for all to view. After further discussion it was discovered that some students had never even heard of Mozart…seizing the opportunity I extended a challenge to everyone to check out this guy and his music on the Internet…to learn something about him…to do it just for the sake of learning…no marks…no hand in assignment…not everyone will accept my challenge…but I expect some will.

Now, for a most amazing discovery…one of our "in-class" students informed us that he can actually play Mozart's Concerto No 21…who would have guessed?

Next class…perhaps a brief clip of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s budget speech delivered last Tuesday...students will most certainly have something to say and to learn about his budget and how it might impact our faltering economy.

In total about 5 minutes (out of this 2 hour-long class) was spent on the Mozart experiment…not a significant amount of class time to stimulate some general learning and to break the routine of always concentrating on course related content.

During our break Johnny Cash entertained...


New Students Join Rec 130 Class

It was a pleasure having two of my colleagues, Bill Ramore and Brian Bennison join us in today’s class. They are very keen and curious to learn how e-learning technology can benefit students in our School of Recreation and Leisure. Hopefully, other Canadore College professors will likewise drop by to check out what is happening and to consider the power and promise of e-learning for their courses.


Smooth Sailing: Wind Is At Our Back

By now, my students and I are becoming increasingly familiar with Contact North’s technology and for the most part today's class went relatively smoothly.

A not so good observation...attendance for “in-class” and “e-class” students was down noticeably today. My concern is that some students will simply take the option to view recorded classes rather than attend “in-classes” or “e-classes.” However, inclement weather may have been a contributing factor for today's dwindling attendance or perhaps somehow word leaked out that I was going to play Mozart's Piano Concerto. I will continue to monitor attendace trends to identify potential issues relating to attendance and participation in both "in-class" and "e-class" sessions.

A suggestion worthy of serious consideration…a very smart Recreation Therapy student wondered out loud if the Rec 130 course could be scheduled at a more convenient time than on Wednesdays from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. She made the solid argument that if Rec130 was offered at the beginning or ending of a day; more students would have the choice to take this course by "e-class"...an idea to definitely think about.

Next class is Wed Feb 4.