Big Top EASL

Dr. Kolarkar building Big Top EASL

April 29 and 30, we will have our first Big Top EASL on campus.  Under Dr. Ameya Kolarkar's innovative leadership, with support from his college (COSAM), Dr. Kolarkar has organized a big tent event for review sessions for his Physics students.










In addition to his students, students of Dr. Lynn Mandeltort's Chemistry courses and Dr. Scott Bowling's Biology courses will take advantage of the EASL environment on Cater Lawn.  Large white boards will allow for a large scale engaged and active review session.  Cater Lawn should be a busy place the next two evenings from 6-9pm, so stop by and check out learning in action.  Keep an eye out for #War Damn EASL.

If you teach Music...

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sitting through a demo of Music First.  Robin Hudson, one of the founders/developers of this system, showed us this web/cloud based system of resources, applications and tools to teach music to students in K-12 age groups.  I could see it being of interest not only for a school system but also for private music teachers who want to give their students opportunites to practice more effectively and to create music.

https://www.musicfirst.com/ was discussed by Hudson as a learning management system for Music teachers.  His claim that it is better than other learning management systems may be true for the functions it currently holds:  repositories of musical content (the umbrella company, Music Sales Group, owns rights to a lot of music), practice videos, the ability to record your own practices right on the web site for review, comments and grades, including a red note green note system, a grade book, and multiple web-based applications that help children explore the world of music.

Some of these applications are Groovy Music for exploration and composing through visual elements, Morton Subotnick's Music Academy for music composition based on hand movement or drawing, and O-Generator for older children composing music.

The company is not quite one year old -- it is going to be interesting what this international collection of music production experts will bring together.

One point Hudson reminded us of was that traditional jobs in music are scarce but that the future is going to bring thousands of jobs in Music production and technology that we do not even know exist yet -- so for us to stay committed to a traditional approach of studying music may make it for students more difficult to explore unconventional music options.

Informal Learning Space in Rouse Life Science Center

For many of us, the Rouse Life Science Center is a bit off our beaten paths on campus -- on the corner of College and Samford, it houses the Department of Biological Sciences, contains lots of research space, offices, and some lecture halls. The only area where students canhang out between classes is at the bottom of the center stair case - a place where you will see student research posters displayed together with glass vitrines showcasing some biology stuff.

Until recently, students could only hang out on wobbly surplus-harvested furniture, and the space did not really allow for collaborative learning.  All of this has changed now, because of the efforts of one faculty member in the department, Dr. Sharon Roberts.  She set aside resources, funds and time to change the place.

Is it still at the bottom of the stair case?  Yes, but now students have new chairs and tables to work at, a comfy couch corner, and an erasable round wall for collaboration.
Here some photos of the new additions

Comfy Couch corner -- sturdy for students to sit on all corners

Rounded wall painted in dry-erase paint
 for collaboration

One set of table/chairs

Levitating Interior Designer

The two master desingers