Teaching college courses online can be a bit difficult, especially when attempting to get “a feel” for the class. Where are students at in the week’s lesson? How are they feeling about it? What are students thinking?
In other words, online teachers often lose that sense of community, a sense of place that a brick and mortar classroom naturally provides. To counter this, think about the most successful communities on the web - social media. Emulating, as best as possible, the more positive aspects of what social media purports to do can create a thriving online community within your own little teaching domain.
I did this with music in my online survey course covering World History, 1500 to the present.
I created a page (screen shot to the right) that describes the purpose of sharing music reflecting the studies embedded within the course. I also created a semester-long online discussion board where students can post their found music and discuss it at length. Students get to read and listen to what other students posted, thus creating a community. The only direction I give them is to pick and write about music that were either written during the time period under study, or songs that reflect back to that past point.
The big benefit is that students are doing History. By searching for and sharing found music in conjunction with where we are at in the course, students reveal both primary and secondary documents but in music form. Additionally , students are creating a community. By sharing music and writing about it, they create their own distinct stomping ground.
The other plus is I am exposed to a great treasure trove of songs from centuries past, and exposed to living musicians and groups that reflect and write music about humanity’s past. Give it a try!