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Singing It is Hearing It: Experiential Learning in the Teaching of Fundamental Musical Skills to Non-Music Majors

Like many Canadian post-secondary institutions, TMU offers its students a variety of general interest courses on music topics. Unlike most institutions, however, TMU students can also enroll in two courses, The Architecture of Music I and II (MUS106 and 507), where they will acquire foundational-to-intermediate musicianship skills, such as clapping prescribed rhythms, recognizing melodic intervals by ear, and singing notated melodies. Based on the principle that a basic perceptual (auditory) understanding of how music works is best developed through actual/applied performance experience, these well-enrolled courses draw students from a wide range of academic programs. Our presentation will discuss the challenges and benefits that arise from taking an experiential approach to teaching music to students with no formal musical training and culturally-diverse musical backgrounds. In particular, we pay special attention to the twin goals of A) providing experiential musical training that is broadly accessible and B) assessing each student’s musical progress in a way that is consistent and fair. Our presentation addresses these considerations by examining two common methods for assessing and grading the experiential components of these courses. One method focuses on the development and testing of essential performance skills within the context of small groups made up of students who work together throughout the semester. In the other method, students develop self- study techniques and are tested on a one-on-one basis. Throughout this presentation, we will highlight the advantages and drawbacks of either method by inviting the audience to participate in some basic musical exercises, and reflect on their experiences. Following this, we will offer some concluding remarks on the pioneering nature of these two musicianship- developing courses and the benefits that a balanced experiential learning pedagogy offers in the acquisition of fundamental auditory musical skills for students of different cultural backgrounds and with no formal musical training.

Presenters

Taking Stock: TMU’s EL Inventory Project

With our roots as a polytechnic institution, TMU has a long-standing history of being a leader in offering career-driven education and experiential learning (EL) opportunities, both inside and outside of the classroom. Until recently however, understanding exactly what and how much curricular EL is taking place has not been formally documented at an institutional-wide level. In this concurrent session, the EL Hub will share our experience and findings embarking on an ambitious project to formally document TMU’s curricular EL landscape. Following the passing of Senate Policy 169 in June 2020, the EL Hub, working closely with the Registrar's Office, developed a working group to discuss the benefits of having a coordinated approach to taking an institutional inventory of EL courses, systems and resources. These discussions concluded that there was significant value in undertaking this work, not only to meet requirements of the policy itself and be accountable to external demands (i.e. the SMA) but equally importantly to have an internal snapshot of what curricular EL is, and is NOT, taking place. To start this complex work, the EL Hub applied a methodological approach of “tagging” undergraduate courses. Given the long-standing decentralized EL environment at TMU and wanting to honour the broad spectrum of EL activities offered to students, we developed a total of 18 EL values and definitions in which we could tag active courses. Working closely with faculties, the EL Hub has now successfully developed an initial baseline picture of what EL activities are being offered to students in every undergraduate program at TMU. In addition to the internal benefits mentioned above, this project has directly benefited students by providing them with access to information to make EL informed decisions when reviewing and selecting courses as part of their degree requirements. It’s also resulted in TMU: being at at par with almost all other Ontario PSI’s in having this searchable catalogue function; being able to track student enrollment in EL course; having the possibility of denoting EL activities on academic transcripts; and, allowing community/industry partners to identify new and innovative possibilities to connect with TMU.

Presenters

Beyond the Walls: A Proposal for Expanding Learning Horizons Beyond the Classroom

As a contract lecturer at TMU & a professor at Seneca Polytechnic, I have had the opportunity to take my students into attending sessions & workshops with different organizations to build environmental stewardship within their future career skills. Every fall term, I register my students with Green Symposium sessions and workshops throughout delivering my Digital Electronics & Introduction to PLC programming course, as well as registering them for Sustainable Development Goals sessions, where students get to learn about the international 17 SDG goals from the main organizer & how they can be applied within the electronics and robotics field. Moreover, I invited my Seneca Polytechnic students to attend Toronto Repair Café, where they get to learn how to fix their own electronics & home appliances from experts, to reduce recycling & reserve our natural resources by reusing instead of recycling. I Invited my fourth-year engineering students at TMU to the Seneca Polytechnic showcase for graduate students' projects, where they get to see other students' creativity from other educational institutions and to network with fellow graduating students. During my delivery for the Photovoltaics course, I was able to take my Seneca Polytechnic students in 2012 to a large-scale photovoltaic farm built in Ontario. Through my teaching work with Seneca Polytechnic, I am developing a course with a professor in Germany to be delivered in Winter 2025, where both my students and his students virtually can interact & work together throughout the course materials. I believe in constructive theory, where learners construct their own understanding & knowledge of the world through experiencing things & reflecting on those experiences. I believe in implementing social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura, which emphasizes the importance of social interactions, observation, & modeling in the learning process. It suggests that individuals learn from observing others & the consequences of their actions. Finally, I like to apply the universal design for learning (UDL) educational framework that aims to provide all students with equal opportunities to learn by offering multiple means of representation, expression, & engagement. It recognizes and addresses learner variability. Taking my students to different sessions & workshops increased their engagement, as it encourages active participation, hands-on learning, & exploration of diverse topics & perspectives, as well as creating critical thinking skills, & retention of knowledge. Lastly, but most importantly, increased student confidence in their learning abilities.

Presenters