Incorporating Information Literacy into Music Appreciation (MUS 105): A Course fulfilling the Humanities Requirement for General Studies

Course: Music Appreciation
Faculty: Dr. Timothy J. Roden, Music Department, tjroden@owu.edu
Librarian: Margie Wiers, M.A., M.L.S., Music Librarian, mlwiers@owu.edu

Introduction

The music appreciation course is designed for general students who may or may not have had any previous exposure to the discipline. Although this course is an introductory course (100 level), students from all levels, Freshman through Senior, are typically enrolled in the class. Further, the class is not open to music majors. It is the desire of the instructor and music librarian to offer a program of information literacy that will be of use to students in future years, especially in regards to information available on the internet and general reference materials. Therefore the scope of the proposal is not as comprehensive as students would encounter in a course that is part of the major degree program.

Nature of the Project

There are three major information literacy goals that we would like to achieve in MUS 105: (1) to develop a basic understanding of print reference materials and how to locate music recordings on CONSORT; (2) to provide them with the skills to find, use, and evaluate electronic resources; and (3) to acquaint students with using the internet to search for concert information as well as finding music recordings to purchase. After each session, students will be required a web-based assignment, putting to practical use the information presented during the lecture. Students will be receive a grade on all assignments. Tests will also include questions dealing with Information Literacy.

1. In conjunction with the segment of the course covering opera, students will learn about collections of opera synopsis, internet sites devoted to opera and opera houses, opera videos (including different production philosophies), and usefulness of journals devoted to the genre. This session will also cover educational material available on CD-ROM.
   
   
2. Core music reference materials: Students will learn about basic music reference works (e.g., Music Encyclopedias and Biographical Dictionaries). Assignments will acquaint them with the purpose, scope, and unique qualities of each source. Students will also learn how to search CONSORT for reference works and sound recordings.
   
   
3. Electronic resources part a: methods for finding and evaluating musical sites posted on the world wide web. Students will be exposed to the variety of subjects available on internet as well as methods of evaluating the source, content, and quality of posted material.
   
   
4. Electronic resources part b: students will learn how to use the web to locate musical organizations, concert schedules, and ticket information as well as explore various commercial sites that sell CDs.

Project Timeline

The instructor and music librarian will meet regularly, probably once a week, during the spring semester to develop the content of the sessions and the assignments.

Faculty Time to Complete the Project

The instructor, with the assistance of the music librarian, will need to construct search assignments that will be relevant to the pedagogical goals of the course and literacy session as well as avoid confusion. We would like to develop web-based materials and assignments as much as possible, an area in which the music librarian has a particular expertise, which will also require a substantial amount of preparation. However, this will reduce the costs for copying as well as the amount of paper and will facilitate grading. We also plan to evaluate each session at the completion of the last assignment. It will take approximately eight hours to develop assignments for each session, probably more for the session dealing with electronic media, for a total of between 32 and 40 hours. Preparation will be completed by the conclusion of Spring Semester.

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