Executive Summary of Results

The placement test was used by over seventy students at IUPUI during the fall and spring semesters of the 2004-2005 school year.  It was an extremely successful project for both students and instructors.  Students were given immediate feedback on their deficiencies in music theory.  Instructors were able to study students’ scores and place the students in the appropriate section of music theory.  By using the Oncourse environment, the testing environment was able to evaluate students using both written and aural theory.  The customizable features of this test made it attractive to other universities.  The placement exam was also used and tested at several other institutions including Northwestern University, Goshen College, and Virginia’s Magnet School for the Sciences.

Need for the Project

As enrollment and interest in music theory grows on the IUPUI campus there was an increased need for a tool to better assess students for their placement in the four theory courses currently offered, Theory I, II, III, and IV.  Because of the variance in students’ previous musical experience, instructors previously spent extra time with incoming students evaluating their knowledge in the form of paper tests and individual meetings.  The development of an on-line assessment test in music theory allowed instructors to more closely evaluate students’ knowledge of music theory as well as allowed entering students to have prompt immediate feedback on their deficiencies in music theory.  Three main teaching approaches were consulted in the design process of the placement exam:  the Gestalt principle, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, and the principles of undergraduate learning. 

Use of Technology

While computer assisted instruction and other technologies are already used in many music theory courses at Indiana University, the extent to which technology is used in pre-assessment of incoming students is lacking.  In a survey of seventy-four colleges and universities, only three offer an online music placement test.  Of these three schools, none of the tests are customizable in order to fit a certain instructor’s needs.  The MUSE project currently is available on the IUPUI server.  Unlike other similar exams, there is an instructor option site that allows faculty to create and design their own questions.  Instructors are able to create a customizable exam by clicking on specific exam questions.  The exam is immediately created and loaded onto the oncourse system for student usage. 

Instructional Design Plan

Describe how the use of technology used supported your teaching approach:

• What student learning outcomes were expected?
• How did your teaching plan encourage active learning, provide feedback, address respective learning styles, and build collaboration?
• What resources were used? (campus technology support services, etc.)
• Would your project be easily understood and executed by other faculty?

By using the MUSE project it was expected that students would be enrolled in the appropriate section, a section that would include material that would challenge and satisfy the student.  Through this students would be more fulfilled with their learning experience and student retention in music theory courses would be greatly improved. The test also was designed to facilitate many different learning styles through aural, visual, and analytical questions imbedded within the exam. The Center for Teaching and Learning at IUPUI was consulted regarding examples of sound online instruction.  The Center also offered advice in screen design and overall functionality of the site.  Digital Media Services provided many hours of technical support throughout this project.  Several programmers from this department worked to code the exam as well as create a working instructional environment.  This project has been executed by several faculty members at IUPUI and at other institutions.  The technology component is user-friendly and is very clear in its design and initiative.

Potential to Impact Student Learning

Clearly define how your project improved student learning - include specific examples of how your project:

• Fostered depth of learning
• Supported efforts to improve retention
• Fostered the learning of large numbers of students
• Has broader applications that will affect learning K-12 or community environments?

The purpose of this project was to place students in the appropriate music theory section. The retention rates between music theory I and music theory II were not high. I first used the placement exam in the Fall of 2004.  Only one student received a passing score on the test. He opted to receive a passing grade for the course and continued to attend theory I. I again used the test in the Spring of 2005. I had several students with a passing score during the spring semester.  These students immediately signed up for music theory II.  They have succeeded in the second level of music theory and received very high marks for their work.  I believe that these students would have suffered in music theory I due to unchallenging content. The list of deficiencies listed at the end of each exam has been very helpful to most students.  Many students entering into the IUPUI music theory sequence come into the program with some musical knowledge.  The list of deficiencies allows the students to see their strengths and weaknesses, focusing on those specific skills throughout the semester.  After one year of using the test, the retention rate for music theory II is much higher.  The enrolment for the Spring of 2005 was up from six students to eighteen.  By having students placed in the most appropriate section, an instructor is able to teach more effectively, responding either to students lack of mastery or responding with more challenging material.

Assessment Plan

Briefly explain the effectiveness of your assessment plan:

• What measure of assessment was used?
• How did your approach obtain measures of performance?
• Did you feel your measurement was accurate and effective?

The following data was collected on each student and stored in a folder on the investigator’s server:

1. Major
2. Gender
3. Class Rank
4. Amount of music experience
5. Primary instrument (if any)
6. Total time spent on exam
7. Student score on each category
8. Total percentage on exam

This data was analyzed by a collegue in the School of Music, Dr. Debra Burns, who has training in statistics.  She used the SPSS system to come up with preliminary data regarding student usage of the placement exam.  No statistically significant finding were shown within the data.  Averages were computed both in the Fall of 2004 and Spring of 2005.  The following

table show the averages of each category from the Fall of 2004 and Spring of 2005.

Although there were no statistically significant findings, I believe that the averages shown above indicate an improvement in the student scores on the placement exam.  The measurements were accurate and immediate.  Students were able to see their own scores at the end of the exam.  The results of each exam were immediately stored and also emailed to me for my verification.

Plan for Colleague Development

Describe your role and activities as a mentor:

• What mentoring activities were implemented to assist colleagues?
• How did you help to develop colleague's instructional technology skills?
• How do you think your contributions to the Knowledge Base will help colleagues planning similar projects?
• Is your project approach potentially applicable to other contexts or disciplines?
• What tips would you offer?

During the development and conception of this project I consulted with faculty in the School of Music as well as faculty from other disciplines within my Technology Learning Community.  I demonstrated the test to several faculty members who in turn used the test in their own classroom.  Faculty from both IUPUI and Northwestern University were able to create their own exam questions and to create their own placement exams from the large database of questions.  I believe that one of the strongest features of this project was in the preliminary research.  Data was gathered from seventh-four schools on their usage of placement exams.  This preliminary data as well as evaluated paper copies of the test provided wonderful feedback for the development of the online tool.  I also was able to mentor several undergraduate and graduate students who worked with me on this project.  They were able to offer insight from a student’s point of view as this test was in development.  This project’s approach is very conducive to other disciplines , including foreign languages where aural interaction may be very important in a testing situation. 

Final Comments on Project Results

• Do you think you met the goals of your project?
• What, if anything,would you do differently?
• Did you have any unexpected outcomes? (positive or negative)
• Would you recommend this teaching approach to colleagues?
• What other comments or suggestions would you offer to complete this report?

The goals of this project were met beyond my expectations.  Although I had envisioned a fully customizable placement exam, I was unaware as to its full potential. The database of questions and sample tests continues to grow. It has allowed the music instructors at IUPUI to have a better understanding of the skills of our entering students and allowed our students to be enrolled in the appropriate section during the first week of classes.  I would like to continue to test this project at several universities and continue to collect data on student usage. 

Although most of the findings were very positive, I expected there to be more statistically significant findings regarding students scores and previous musical experience.  Perhaps with further testing, most statistics can be run in order to understand better the musical knowledge of students enrolled in music classes at IUPUI and at other universities.

Other universities have expressed a great interest in using this program in upcoming semester.  I hope to continue with my collegues to build the database for questions. One of the most important suggestions that I can make to those who are developing such a program is to ask for help and suggestions from the many faculty members at IUPUI and abroad.  Some of my best advice came from instructors across the country.  I also took the opportunities to speak about this project at several national conferences.  The exposure and questions from these meetings helped in the development and production of the MUSE project. 

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Last updated: 18 May, 2007

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