Web Development: Podcasts and other Related Resource
for the Music Educator

Summer 2010


"A computer terminal is not some clunky old television with a typewriter in front of it. It is an interface where the mind and body can connect with the universe and move bits of it about."
Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless (1992)

"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
Laurie Anderson, Wired magazine (1998)
Instructor: Dr. Timothy A. Nord
Office: 2202 JJWCM
Phone: 274-3389
E-mail: nord@ithaca.edu
Office Hours: M 10, R 2, F 11 or by appointment

Course Information
Course: MUED 69703
Room: 2102 JJWCM
Times: Section 01 - 12:00 MTWRF
   


Required/Recommended Reading

Readings will vary depending on the direction the course takes, but may include various tutorials and articles related to design issues and content creation.

Course Description

This course has been developed as an advanced course for music educators interested in learning how to design and create a web site for their music program. The goal is to help students learn to create a professional looking website approprite to their school music program. Class work will focus on design issues and techniques as well as content creation.

Objectives

The objective of this course is to create an environment where students will learn various different concepts involved in the design and creation of web-based materials as related to their own area of musical interest and expertise. Students will learn concepts of effective website design. Students will learn how to create and manipulate different types of audio and visual data. Students will learn how to how to link or embed different types of information (in different file formats) to a website to make it available to their students.

Grading

Grading will be based on attendance and the completion of assignments and projects. There will be four primary assignments that focus on particular techniques and design issues. The final portion of the course will be dedicated to the creation of a substantial project utilizing the approaches studied earlier. Assignment 1 will be worth 10%, Assignments 2 and 3 will be worth 20% each and the final project (assignment 4) will be worth 50% of the final grade.

Attendance

Due to the nature of this course, attendance is required at all class meetings. Unexcused absences will result in a lowering of your grade by three percentage points per absence. See the Attendance Policy section of the Ithaca College Undergraduate Catalog, 2009-2010, for a complete statement of the College Attendance Policy.

Course Overview
I. Website and Content Design Tools
  The first part of the course focuses on the creation of content materials. Working with programs such as Audacity, Peak, Cubase, Reason, iMovie and/or various online resources, students learn how to create and manipulate different types of audio and visual resources that can then be used as content material for their website.
II. Project Design and Creation  
  In this part of the course, students focus on putting all these building blocks together into projects relevant to their particular area of musical expertise. We use programs such as iWeb and Dreamweaver, as well as HTML and some online resources as platforms for structuring these projects. Each student is required to design and create a substantial website that illustrates their functional knowledge of component design as well as the development of a sense of unity of material and purpose for the project.
  Please see the course calendar in Blackboard for a more detailed outline.