Distance learning has come a long way. Once the domain of dubious “as seen on TV” correspondence courses promising diplomas in such arcane disciplines as air conditioning installation and VCR and gun repair, distance education has entered the mainstream. Today, institutions ranging from the Ivy Leagues to local K-12 programs offer virtual coursework on their Websites, iTunes, YouTube and Second Life. Originally designed for working adults, online courses are now a real component of every phase of “traditional” education, and for a generation brought up on the Internet, the transition is seamless. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 66 percent of post-secondary learning institutions offer distance learning programs, with 12.2 million enrollments in college-level credit-granting distance education courses in 2006-07.
The immediate benefits are obvious: Online courses offer flexibility and convenience; and students can usually log in anytime, anywhere. Classes are generally available on an affordable a la carte basis — and with the average yearly tuition at a four-year college creeping over $25,000, cost is certainly a consideration…
Web-based audio curriculums are exploding: Berkleemusic.com, which is largely recognized as the pioneer of online audio education, leads the market with the world’s largest catalog, offering more than 100 accredited courses and 30 certificate programs to more than 25,000 students in 90 countries…
At Berklee College of Music, distance learning tools are a far cry from the mail-in music theory correspondence courses the school offered back in the ’50s, but the goals are the same: to connect Berklee’s instructors and curricula with a global network of musicians. According to Debbie Cavalier, Berklee’s Dean of Continuing Education, the scope and learning outcomes for Berkleemusic.com courses are similar to Berklee’s face-to-face environment, but the path to get there is different. “We’ve structured our online courses to address many different learning modalities,” she says. “Text, audio, video, live chat, discussion board activities, Flash interactions and hands-on projects are all provided throughout the lessons to help students gain knowledge through their preferred learning style.”
At Berkleemusic, students can enroll in individual classes or work toward an intensive three-course Specialist Certificate; four, five or six-course Professional Certificate; or an eight, nine or 12-month Master Certificate. Classes run 12 weeks and cost $995, or $1,195 for college credit. Each week, students work through the lesson material, post questions, upload assignments, listen to and critique each other’s work, answer questions, interact with their instructor, receive feedback on weekly assignments and participate in a weekly class meeting online. “The class community becomes a vibrant online learning environment with lots of communication and musical exchange,” says Cavalier. “Students who are new to Berkleemusic are often surprised by how much they learn, how rigorous the Berkleemusic online courses are and how connected they feel to their classmates and instructor throughout the 12-week term.”
Cavalier adds that Berklee’s online classes are ideally suited to hands-on learning. “For example, a Mixing and Mastering in Pro Tools course may include a lesson topic on applying parallel compression to guitar tracks in a mix,” she says. “Students read about the concept, look at diagrams, watch the instructor demonstrate the technique in a movie file and then try to apply parallel compression with the Pro Tools session provided for that lesson. Each student uploads their version of the technique in their Pro Tools session for the instructor to review and critique.” Files are transferred via DigiDelivery, and students submit mixes as MP3s.
Berkleemusic professor Erik Hawkins, who teaches music production courses such as Pro Tools 110 and Producing Music With Reason from his home studio in Los Angeles, says he strives to keep class content accessible and interesting to all levels of students. “Students who are new to music production can jump in at the basic level with videos and interactive Flash workshops, while more advanced students can dive into discussion questions at more length and tackle the extra challenge portion of a weekly assignment,” he says. “There’s something for every level, and you can pick and choose the materials within a lesson that best suit your personal goals for the topics presented.”
Hawkins spends the first few weeks making sure that everybody understands the basics of the music software programs that the class is working with. “This frees up the remaining weeks for getting creative,” he explains. “For example, beginning in week eight of the Producing Music With Reason course, students start writing and producing their own song that I expect them to have completed, mixed and mastered by the end of week 12 of the course. And in my Remixing With Pro Tools and Reason course, students complete three remix sketches as a warm-up for producing a full-length remix beginning in week seven. It’s an intense ride, but there’s no better way to hone your music production chops than to apply the production techniques that I’m teaching in the lessons to actual projects.”
Terri Winston, executive director of Women’s Audio Mission and professor of Recording Arts at San Francisco City College, says online education is a great way to reach people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to training and to get more people interested in studying audio — but it has its limitations. “They can get introduced to the theory, history and the basic concepts of audio and then hopefully this motivates them to get into a studio classroom environment to learn the hands-on and workflow portion of the craft,” she says. “Now, taking the online concept too far by eliminating the group learning environment makes it too comfortable and prevents students from learning the difficult and critical people skills that are required in this industry.”
Winston believes online learning can augment training, but only a group, in-studio learning environment can teach studio etiquette, workflow, group dynamics and people skills. “One of the most important requirements to be successful in this industry is the ability to work well with people in high-stress situations,” she says. “It’s important for students to get themselves in those environments as often as possible so they can see what this actually feels like and learn what is appropriate behavior. You need to have the adrenaline of getting chewed out on a session to really learn that.”
“There is no substitute for being in the room with great engineers and absorbing their techniques,” Gottleib adds.
That said, the notion of the “real world” is evolving, and smart students are exploring new models of working. “Global collaboration is taking place in all sorts of industries,” says Garcia. “In recording, people are collaborating and working together more without being in the same studio. I think distance education actually prepares you for that new world, where you are working with people who you don’t see, people you are not in the same room with.”
Ultimately, online education is just like most things in life: What you get out of it is in direct proportion to what you put into it. “It is an utter myth that online or distance learning is simply a bunch of resources made available online — it is not,” says Hambly. “What is essential is carefully crafted pedagogical systems where a relationship forms between the student and his or her peers and learning advisor. If potential students find that the courses are without appropriate advisor moderation and guidance, my advice is to stay well clear of them as you will not be getting a valuable educational experience. It is in the interaction, or, ‘social learning,’ where the real learning takes place.”
Read the whole article from Mix Magazine here.
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