Proposal+for+AP+Music+Theory+Collaboration+Site

With the ready availability of networked collaborative learning tools like Wikispaces.com, there are many opportunities for implementation in a school setting. As an AP Music Theory teacher, I've wondered how such a collaboration might work between Cy-Springs and another school in our district. Such a project would likely benefit from starting small (only one other campus) and starting local so that collaboration between the instructors can be facilitated. After a successful trial run in which all the bugs are worked out, the project could then expand to include multiple schools from around the country. What would the goals of such a partnership be? First, the purpose of the site would be to serve as a meeting place for students who wouldn't ordinarily interact, but who nevertheless share a common academic goal: to be successful on the AP exam (or at least be successful in the class). Wikispaces can facilitate this goal by providing a space in which students can create pages for social note taking, complete assignments, comment on each other's work or on teacher directed material placed on the site for student review. The process of seeing what the other students are doing and learning can be very beneficial to students as they absorb all the material to varying degrees of success. Of course, the wiki would not take the place of all written or assigned work as the urge to cheat by looking on someone else's completed assignment would be too great, shielding students who are in genuine need of help from getting the kind of formative assessment that they need. However, having completed work on the wiki as a permanent and public portfolio will aid the students as they study for the exam. Here are some potential activities to be shared by the students at the 2 campuses:
 * One teacher creates a page with a link to a piece of music in MP3 format. The students, using headphones, listen to the track and respond in the comments section, either by starting a new thread or responding to other students. The teacher can leave a first post to serve as a prompt for the students to think about the piece in specific ways. This will also be one way for the students to get to know one another.
 * The students are put into small groups that includes at least one student from the other campus. An assignment is created using the template function in the New Page section. The assignment is divided into 2 parts, the first to be completed by the representatives from one campus while the second by those from the other. When both sections are completed, each campus reviews the work of the other and leaves comments using the "sticky note" function. In this way, students receive instant assessment of their work and again are given an opportunity to interact with students from another school.
 * A Resources page is created on which both instructors can upload content for student review. This has the benefit of peer review for the instructors who can address each other's blind spots, thereby ensuring that all the material gets covered.
 * Each instructor can post videos of favorite lessons they've taught or YouTube videos that already exist covering music theory topics.

Some potential downsides:


 * The wiki site takes some getting used to. A number of days would be needed to train students on how to use the site. This will necessarily impact lesson planning and the curriculum.
 * In addition, some instruction on how to use the comment section appropriately will need to be issued. In my experience, students liked to use the comment section to be funny rather than to seriously engage in the material at hand. The instructors will need to draw a sharp distinction between wikispaces and facebook in terms of the social interaction. Facebook is not an interest-based experience in the same way that wikispaces is.
 * Assignments will have to be coordinated in such a way that they are not completed completely by whichever class has Theory the soonest during the day. For example, if Cy-Springs has AP Theory 1st period and Cy-Ridge has it 7th, the collaborative aspect of the wiki will have to take place entirely outside of class time. This can be a good thing, but it will require planning ahead of time.
 * The Resource page and the assignment pages will take some time to set up. However, once this is done over the course of a school year, it will be preserved for the next year, thereby significantly reducing the teachers' workload for subsequent classes.