MUG105 - emnerapport 2007 vår
Faglærers vurdering av gjennomføring
Praktisk gjennomføring
The course consisted of a total of 14 meetings: 1 information meeting, 10 regular lectures, and 3 seminars in which the students orally presented their semester projects. The exam consisted of an assignment portfolio with three assignments. The 10 regular lectures were all based on Powerpoint presentations with audio and video examples. Because of the high number of exchange students, with varying levels of English, I think having the lecture outline on Powerpoint slides was a useful tool.
Strykprosent og frafall
Of a total of 21 students registered for the exam, 7 did not take the exam (ikke møtt). Two of these are sykemeldt, and have indicated they plan to do the exam within the one year they have to do so after finishing the obligatory lectures and other activities. 0 students failed the course. This is the fourth time I have taught this course, and the first time since I began teaching this course that I did not have to fail any students because of plagiarism (generally copying from the Internet) -- a very good development!
About half of the students in the course were exchange students, representing the following countries: Italy (2 students), Spain (1), Poland (1), Czech Republic (1), Germany (1), USA (3), Japan (2). Of these, 6 took the exam and received credit for the course.
This was also the first time students from the Ole Bull Academy took the course as part of their required coursework for the BA in Tradisjonsmusikk. I had 6 students from the Ole Bull Academy, 5 of whom passed the course, and one of whom is sykemeldt and plans to take the exam later.
Karakterfordeling
14 students completed the exam, with the following distribution of grades:
A-4,
B-5,
C-4,
D-1,
E-0,
F-0
Studieinformasjon og dokumentasjon
A copy of the study plan for the class plus the full schedule for the course (lecture topics, assigned reading and listening for each lecture, paper assignment descriptions and due dates) was passed out at the information meeting at the beginning of the semester. The study plan was also available on the StudentPortal.
Tilgang til relevant litteratur
Required and recommended textbooks were ordered at Studia, and copies were also put on reserve at the Griegakademiet-Library. Although the textbook order form was sent to Studia in November 2006, Studia did not inform me until late in January, after the course had already started, that the publisher could not supply the main required textbook. I thus had to switch to an alternative main textbook (originally ordered as a supplementary recommended text), which was available at both Studia and the library. This disrupted the progression of the course somewhat, and required some adjustments along the way to the schedule and to the lectures.
Faglærers vurdering av rammevilkårene
Lokaler og undervisningsutstyr
The new ceiling-mounted data projector in Room 206 works very well, allowing for relatively quick "plug and play," especially compared with the previous situation where I had to pick up from reception a data projector every week and set it up before class. Keeping enough chairs in Room 206 for this comparatively large class (up to 20 people attending some lectures) was, however, an ongoing problem. Many weeks I lost valuable time having to retrieve chairs from the prøvesal so that there would be enough chairs for all the students to sit. Because Room 206 is also used as a rehearsal space, nearly every week I also had to spend about 10 minutes before class pushing the piano to the back of the room and moving tables and chairs around in order to set up the space again as a lecture hall. I often had to start lectures frustrated and short of breath from the physical exertion of moving pianos and tables around prior to the class start. It is also embarrassing to have to ask the students to help me bring chairs from the prøvesal back to the classroom. The GA sivilarbeider said he would check the classroom every week before class to make sure there were enough chairs there, but he was not always able to do this because of his other obligations. Also, when other people were using the room for scheduled group rehearsals or individual practicing right before my class, it left little time to set up the room (typically less than 15 minutes) for my class once they had left the room.
Andre forhold
Faglærers kommentar til student-evalueringen(e)
Metode - gjennomføring
At the end of the next-to-last class meeting I distributed a questionnaire to the students present. I designated one student to collect the questionnaires, put them in an envelope, and leave them in my mail box. Then I left the room and allowed the students to fill them out anonymously. I repeated this same procedure during the last class meeting with the students who had not been there the previous week.
Oppsummering av innspill
Most of the students were generally positive about the course. Some especially liked my organization and presentation of the lectures using Powerpoint. Others (probably the Norwegian students with a high level of English) thought this lecture technique was boring. A number of students complained about the above-mentioned problem with textbooks at Studia. Some also suggested that rather than having all 3 written assignments due near the end of the semester, it would be good to spread their due dates out during the semester, with more time in between them.
Ev. underveistiltak
The next time I teach the course, I will consider spreading the due dates for the assignments out during the course of the semester, rather than having them all due near the end of the semester.
Faglærers samlede vurdering,
inkl. forslag til forbedringstiltak
Overall the course continues to be successful, attracting students from within and outside the GA, including a high number of exchange students (the course is specifically recommended to them as a course non-Norwegian speakers can take in English).
In previous years there was a significant problem with plagiarism in this class, and several students (mostly, though not all, exchange students) have failed the class because of copying from the Internet without giving credit. This year I did not have this problem, I think in part because the university finally has made available for the first time an English version of its policy on academic honesty and the use of sources in written work at UiB . I passed out copies of the English and Norwegian versions of this policy at the beginning of the semester, and it seems to have had the desired effect of curbing plagiarism.
The technology situation in the classroom has improved greatly this year with the new data projector in Room 206, though the problem of having enough chairs and having to reconfigure the room for the lecture format continues from previous years. (This is of course a symptom of a more general issue regarding lokaler in the GA, since because of lack of space many rooms need to serve multiple purposes.)
In regard to the problems noted above under "Lokaler og undervisningsutstyr," I specifically suggest that more chairs be bought and permanently placed in Room 206. These should have "Room 206 - Do not remove" painted on the back of them. There should preferably be at least 30 chairs in the room ready to be used at all times, since this room is also used for well-attended presentations by guest lecturers, Professor IIs, etc.