IU SBC Fellows: Good Practices

Good Practice from Glenn Gass, IU Bloomington

Title	Creation of a Multimedia Beatles Companion
Course or Project	Z401, Music of the Beatles
Audience	Experienced undergraduates
Active	2001-2002, still ongoing
Background Information	The Multimedia Beatles Companion is an entirely new feature for a class on the Beatles that I have offered for twenty years.
Teaching Challenge	My Z401/Music of the Beatles course has migrated this year from a small seminar (30 students) to a large (350 students) lecture hall, and this project has been a response to the requirements of the larger room and format. The Beatle multimedia materials have created an entirely new platform for the course, providing a constant visual thread to parallel the audio examples I play in class and ending forever the days when I had to arrive in class with an armload of CD's, cassettes and videotapes. I now have a huge bank of audio examples available with the click of a mouse or keystroke, which makes navigation much easier and allows for a more detailed examination of every song and musical influence.
Good Practice	This project has focused exclusively on the creation of materials for use inside the classroom (bypassing any copyright complications). It is, in essence, all about methods of storing and delivering content: the capture, archiving, compression and delivery of audio and video materials. My work with my Project Coordinator and other members of the TLTC staff has centered around the discovery of the best solutions for addressing my specific teaching needs and the design of a user interface that makes an enormous archive of audio and video examples available in an intuitive and functional manner.
Impact	The project has allowed for a much more intimate look at the Beatle's lives and music. Where in the past I might have simply told a story or described a scene, I now have photos and videos a mouse click away. Since the Beatles seemed to spend every waking moment in front of a camera or microphone, there is certainly no shortage of material. (I am still sifting through the hours of available video, and making choices about what to include.) For the biographical aspects of their career, I can now literally narrate a "slideshow" through the entire semester, while the musical elements are now remarkably detailed, with every available demotape, alternate take and outtake serving as a study of the Beatles' creative process. (There are, for example, nine versions of "Strawberry Fields Forever" chronicled en route to the final, released version.) Fortunately, the Beatles' music holds up remarkably well under intense scrutiny, and loses none of its joy and energy in the process.
Assessment	Comments from students and peers
Keywords	Presenting content, visualizing concepts, course management
Technical Format	Custom composited graphics with text, CD-R, Director-based multimedia materials

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