Music for Global Human Development - Fall 2018 syllabus

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main course page: http://course.m4ghd.org
short link to this syllabus: http://bit.ly/m4ghd18s
short link to the assignments and activities page: http://bit.ly/m4ghd18a
short link to eClass site: http://bit.ly/m4ghd18e
m4ghd project: http://m4ghd.org


Course

Music 365: Music for Global Human Development
Meetings: Tues and Thurs, 11:00 - 12:20, Education North, Second Floor, Room 139 (ROOM CHANGE) This room is on a side corridor ; please look for the signs along the main corridor providing room ranges and you'll find it.

Instructor

Professor Michael Frishkopf
Office: 334D Old Arts Building
Office hours: by appointment
Tel: 780-492-0225
Email: michaelf@ualberta.ca

Description and objectives

This course will focus on Music for Global Human Development (m4ghd) -- the ways music can be used as a (psycho)social technology towards positive social change across critical domains (health, education, peace, social integration). We will combine readings in applied ethnomusicology or anthropology, community music therapy, music and emotion, improvisation, migration and integration, social network analysis, urban ethnomusicology, critical development studies, culture and development, communications for development, and the theory and practice of participatory action research, with case studies of real projects, and weekly music workshops developing our socio-musical abilities.

We will then apply this knowledge -- theoretical and practical -- to design our own outreach projects, in collaboration with community partners, through the UofA's Community Service Learning (CSL) program.

We will collaborate with the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (EMCN), as well as Multicultural Health Brokers, working primarily with newcomers--particularly refugees and other marginalized people--in Edmonton, through music: hearing their stories through music, learning and documenting their music, teaching and interacting through music, co-performing, developing sustainable music activities, and generally engaging through music, towards a musical socio-cultural integration and "resonance" for which our collaborative class projects will constitute a kind of microcosm and initial step.

There will be no in-class exams. Rather we will focus on reading, learning, creating and implementing projects, and documenting this process.

You will receive Community Service Learning (CSL) credit for this course, which can be applied towards adding a CSL certificate to your degree. Note that this certificate can be added to any bachelor's degree, in any UofA faculty across campus.

From the CSL certificate website:

The Certificate in Community Engagement and Service-Learning allows students to demonstrate that they have significantly integrated community service-learning (CSL) into their postsecondary education. The knowledge and experience students gain through service-learning are relevant and applicable to a wide range of careers, including those in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the volunteer sector, business and government, and academic institutions. Students enrolled in ANY Undergraduate program at the University of Alberta are eligible for the Certificate, which is received upon graduation and noted in the student transcript."

Important dates

See list of important dates in the University Calendar. Note especially:

  • Add/Drop Date: Sep 17
  • 50% fees Withdrawal Date: Oct 4
  • Withdrawal Date: Nov 30
  • Last Day of Class: Dec 7

Requirements and mechanics

The course involves 4 primary components:

  1. Academic in-class: seminar-style meetings, structured to facilitate critically engaged discussions of assigned readings, films, and websites. Class attendance and participation is very important! Please be sure you have completed the day's reading assignment before coming to class. Sometimes particular individuals will be appointed to read and present, or to facilitate discussion; everyone can expect to receive at least one appointment of this type. We'll also use these sessions to discuss our projects-in-progress.
  2. Musical in-class: some of our class time will be spent sharing and learning music and musical techniques suitable for M4GHD, as well as developing the creative confidence needed for musical work in the community.
  3. Academic out-of-class: individual class preparation - readings to read, media to watch/hear, websites to review. Sometimes there will be a short written component (around a paragraph) asking you to reflect on content. Individuals appointed to facilitate related discussion may need to prepare for these roles (jotting down a few questions for discussion).
  4. Community Service Learning component (applied out-of-class): CSL projects, and associated assignments (e.g. project proposal, resources, field notes, and summary of outcomes). Some of this work will be collaborative, but everyone will develop their own project. Your CSL component will total 20 hours during the term.

The following is required of each student:

  • Coming to class on time & prepared to discuss assignments, whether they are texts to have read, music to have auditioned, or films to have watched, and actively participating in each one. (If you are appointed to present a particular assignment, coming to class prepared to lead a discussion by jotting down a few questions in advance. Everyone will be appointed at least once.)
  • Active participation in out of class activities, both academic, and applied (the 20 hour CSL component).
  • Not using electronics during class except to support classwork.
  • Completion of written assignments as listed on this course website, to be submitted by the listed date. Except as noted all assignments are to be prepared in a word processor, with properly formatted references (I recommend Zotero as it makes inserting citations and generating bibliography very simple), then submitted via the eClass site using the button corresponding to the assignment. Please do not submit assignments in hard copy or via email! Some (shorter) assignments are submitted by copying/pasting documents into an eClass form. Others (longer, or potentially including graphics) are submitted via file upload. Please ensure that each file contains one and only one assignment, and that your last name appears at the top of the document, and at the start of the filename. All page counts refer to Times New Roman font, 1" margins, single spaced, 8.5 x 11 pages; these counts do not include bibliography. Please cite references as needed, using Zotero to do so, and don't forget to add a bibliography at the end. You may use MLA, Chicago, Harvard, or any other reference style so long as you're consistent. (But please use author-date style, not footnotes/endnotes.) All assignments are to be submitted before class on the due date. Thereafter, one quarter point will be deducted, and an additional quarter point for each subsequent day of lateness. (In other words, an assignment due by 11 am that is submitted later that day is downgraded by a quarter point. If it's submitted after 11 am the following day, it's downgraded by a half point.)
  • A project proposal (1-2 pages only), defining your CSL project before you undertake it, including aim (what do you want to accomplish and with whom?), steps (what exactly will you do?), a list of resources (what will you need?), and method for assessing impact (how will you know if you've succeeded in your aim?). Ideally this project proposal is "sustainable", as it will contain everything someone else would need to carry it out again. You'll submit a draft; I'll provide feedback, and then you'll submit a revised version. This will form the initial segment of your final report (see below).
  • Project module: the substance of your project will be a portable "module" comprising a set of "resources", potentially including text, images, and audio, which you'll use to carry out your CSL project. You'll develop these during the course of the term, and make them available for others (especially EMCN) to use.
  • log: based on field notes, you'll track your project by adding entries to a typed Google Docs log (which may also include media) - essentially, these are your ethnomusicological field notes, typed out (if handwritten initially). Please submit the Google Doc link by Week 2 on eClass's Wiki. Be sure you've shared the document with the instructor only.
  • Project report, summarizing what you accomplished, describing the process, assessing results and impact, reflecting on strengths and weaknesses, suggesting future directions, with relevant citations to the literature we read during the term (and optionally going beyond it). This is your final assignment. Your paper should be between 10 and 20 pages in length, not including bibliography, using 1.5 line spacing, 1” margins, 12 pt font. (Due: Dec 14). Report sections could include the following (you don't have to adhere rigidly to this model if it's not working for you):
    • Title
    • Aim/significance: a paragraph or two on your overall aim and its overall importance - linking to the general aim of M4GHD, human development through music (and including your own development!), and intercultural theories we read.
    • Background: (what/who/where/why) what is the setting? who are you working with, and where? provide enough background so the reader can understand the project, and its significance.
    • Method: initially, what did you decide to do, and how did you decide to carry it out? Refer to PAR as the general frame (explain how you collaborated and with whom), but then explain more precisely what your plan was. How did your project fit with the larger project at your site, in relation to your colleagues working with you? This section could refer to your project as you initially formulated it (with subsequent changes deferred to the next section).
    • Impact: what actually happened? drawing on fieldnotes, present the ethnographic scene as you encountered it at the beginning, describing whom you worked with (including your classmates as well as people at your site, and Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers), how relationships (to everyone) changed throughout the duration of the project, how you came to formulate your project initially, how you adapted it over time when things didn't work (or did), and what changes you observed at the end. How did your results compare to those of others you worked with? (if you worked together most of the time then they'll be substantially the same, but hopefully you each chose a unique angle, and you can talk about that). If your fieldnotes contain paraphrased speech it's always effective to include some of that in your report - what people actually said (approximately).
    • Critical self-assesssment: again drawing on fieldnotes: what worked, what didn't, and why...How sustainable is your project? What have you left your co-participants to continue on without you? What happens when they leave - can it transfer smoothly to those who come after them? What would you like to have done differently? What would you try next if you were to continue (which you can!)
    • Future directions, final thoughts, ideas.
    • Link to the module you have developed (see above). If your module comprises text you can simply include it; otherwise, if there are media (video, photos, audio) involved you can link to a website of some kind (http://sites.google.com will allow you to create websites and share them - there are many other tools that do the same)
    • Link to the blog you have created out of fieldnotes (optional - you don't have to share fieldnotes).
    • Notes: Throughout, cite relevant sources we read in class, or others that you've consulted, especially for the background section (which will be different for everyone, e.g. you may want to include a reference to South Sudanese immigration to Canada...), but also when talking about trans/interculturalism or PAR (since we read various papers in class; you can reference these). Use http://zotero.org or another reference manager to make the reference task much easier - there are plugins for Word and other word processors that will automatically insert citations and format a bibliography. When you cite your field notes you can simply write "(fieldnotes, November 5, 2016)", for instance; you don't have to add field notes to your bibliography. Note that the bibliography doesn't count towards paper length. Please include photos (if you received permission).
    • Upload via eClass.

Resources

Schedule of weekly assignments and activities

Click here for Music for Global Human Development - Fall 2018 schedule

Evaluation and grading

  • 25% fieldnotes, including text, media. Recording your notes on a Google Doc shared with the instructor (optionally you may publish a redacted version via a blog)
  • 25% CSL project plan and module, and final report on implementation, assessment, reflection. (PAR: plan-act-observe-reflect)
  • 25% weekly assignments, some to be submitted in writing via eClass, others presented in class
  • 25% other active participation in class and out of class. (WE are a PAR network!)


All written assignments are to be uploaded to eClass before class (11 am) on the due date (usually Tuesdays). This is very important so you'll be prepared for class. Thereafter, an eighth point will be deducted, and an additional eighth point for each subsequent day of lateness (e.g. 8 days' lateness lowers an A to a B). The final research proposal must be submitted by the end of the day on its due date; thereafter, an eighth point will be deducted for each day of lateness.

Evaluations of each assignment are on one of three scales: 0 - 100, 0 - 4.3, or letter grades, with coincidences as indicated below. At the end of the course, these scores are all mapped to the 0 -100 scale, and averaged according to the percentages indicated in order to produce a final numeric grade. This grade is rounded to the nearest numeric value on the 0-4.3 scale, in order to determine the final letter grade. Numbers exactly in the middle are rounded up (thus 96.5 goes up to 98 = A+)

  • A+: 4.3 (98)
  • A: 4.0 (95)
  • A-: 3.7 (92)
  • B+: 3.3 (88)
  • B: 3.0 (85)
  • B-: 2.7 (82)
  • C+: 2.3 (78)
  • C: 2.0 (75)
  • C-: 1.7 (72)
  • D+: 1.3 (68)
  • D: 1.0 (65)
  • D-: .7 (62)
  • F: 0 (60)

Official statements

Course prerequisites: none
Course texts: none required
Course-based ethics approval, Community service learning: YES
Past or representative evaluative course material: see previous offerings at http://course.m4ghd.org
Additional mandatory instruction fees: No
Policy about course outlines can be found in the Evaluation Procedures and Grading System section of the University Calendar.

Academic Integrity
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour and avoid any behaviour that could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

Learning and working environment
The Faculty of Arts is committed to ensuring that all students, faculty and staff are able to work and study in an environment that is safe and free from discrimination and harassment. It does not tolerate behaviour that undermines that environment. The department urges anyone who feels that this policy is being violated to: • Discuss the matter with the person whose behaviour is causing concern; or • If that discussion is unsatisfactory, or there is concern that direct discussion is inappropriate or threatening, discuss it with the Chair of the Department. For additional advice or assistance regarding this policy you may contact the Office of the Student Ombuds. Information about the University of Alberta Discrimination and Harassment Policy and Procedures is described in UAPPOL.

Academic Honesty:
All students should consult the information provided by the Student Conduct & Accountability Office regarding avoiding cheating and plagiarism in particular and academic dishonesty in general (see the Academic Integrity Undergraduate Handbook and Information for Students). If in doubt about what is permitted in this class, ask the instructor.

An instructor or coordinator who is convinced that a student has handed in work that he or she could not possibly reproduce without outside assistance is obliged, out of consideration of fairness to other students, to report the case to the Associate Dean of the Faculty. See the Academic Discipline Process . .

Recording of Lectures:
Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).

Attendance, Absences, and Missed Grade Components:
Regular attendance is essential for optimal performance in any course. In cases of potentially excusable absences due to illness or domestic affliction, notify your instructor by e-mail within two days. Regarding absences that may be excusable and procedures for addressing course components missed as a result, consult the Calendar regarding Attendance and Examinations sections of the University Calendar. Be aware that unexcused absences will result in partial or total loss of the grade for the “attendance and participation” component(s) of a course, as well as for any assignments that are not handed-in or completed as a result. In this course, 25% of your grade depends on regular attendance and energetic participation in class meetings.

Policy for Late Assignments:
See section on Evaluation, above.

Student Accessibility Services:
If you have special needs that could affect your performance in this class, please let me know during the first week of the term so that appropriate arrangements can be made. If you are not already registered with Student Accessibility Services, contact their office immediately (1-80 SUB; Email sasrec@ualberta.ca; Email; phone 780-492-3381).

Media Archives and Departmental Broadcasting of Audio-visual Material
Audio or video recording of performances, lectures, seminars, or any other academic or research environment activities are carried out by the Department of Music for archival purposes. These archives may be collected and housed in the Music Library. Recorded material is to be used solely for non-profit, educational, research, and community outreach purposes, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without obtaining the express permission from all parties involved. Please be advised that your solo or group performance may be featured on the University of Alberta's Department of Music website and/or social media platform(s). If you object to this use of audio and/or video material in which you will be included, please advise your instructor or the Department of Music in writing prior to participating in any performance, lecture, seminar or public event held by the Department of Music.

Disclaimer:
Any typographical errors in this syllabus are subject to change and will be announced in class and posted on eClass. The date of the final examination is set by the Registrar and takes precedence over the final examination date reported in this syllabus.

Student Resources

The best all-purpose website for student services is: https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students.

Accessibility Resources: (1 – 80 SUB)
The University of Alberta is committed to creating work and learning communities that inspire and enable all people to reach their full potential. Accessibility Resources promotes an accessible, inclusive, and universally designed environment. For general information to register for services visit the Accessibility Resources webpage.

The Academic Success Centre: (1-80 SUB)
The Academic Success Centre offers a variety of workshops on effective study and exam strategies. There are in-person and online sessions available for a modest fee.

The Centre for Writers: (1-42 Assiniboia Hall)
The Centre for Writers offers free one-on-one writing support to students, faculty, and staff. Students can request consultation for a writing project at any stage of development. Instructors can request class visits and presentations.

Health and Wellness Support: There are many health and community services available to current students. For more information visit the Health and Wellness Support webpage.

Office of the Student Ombuds:
The Office of the Student Ombuds offers confidential interviews, advice and support to students facing academic, discipline, interpersonal and financial difficulties.

Learning and working environment:

The Faculty of Arts is committed to ensuring that all students, faculty and staff are able to work and study in an environment that is safe and free from discrimination and harassment. It does not tolerate behaviour that undermines that environment. The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community. Policy about course outlines can be found in the Evaluation Procedures and Grading System section of the University Calendar.

University of Alberta Sexual Violence Policy
The Sexual Violence Policy was approved by GFC in June 2017. It plays a vital role in ensuring a safe and respectful learning and working environment.

As defined in the policy, sexual violence is any sexual act or act of a sexual nature, or act targeting sexuality, whether physical or psychological, committed without consent. Sexual violence is a complex and serious problem in society and on university campuses. Sexual violence can affect individuals of all gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations, as well as those from all ages, abilities, racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. Through this policy, the University of Alberta recognizes its responsibility to reduce sexual violence in the University community. The university aims to do so by fostering a culture of consent and support through education, training and policy. The University recognizes the possible effects of trauma on those who have experienced sexual violence and supports the efforts of individuals to seek support and recover.

To read the policy in more detail, please visit: https://policiesonline.ualberta.ca/PoliciesProcedures/Policies/Sexual-Violence-Policy.pdf

Working Alone Policy:
The Fine Arts Building hours are as follows and subject to change:

  • 7:30 AM - 9: 30 PM on weekdays*
  • 7:30 AM - 8:00 PM on weekends*
  • The building is closed on holidays
  • Please note restricted corridors are locked at 4:30 PM during the week and locked throughout the weekend. Card access is required.

Students (and staff) may choose to work alone after hours, particularly those students using practice room or rehearsal space. While the department strongly encourages students to practice, students are not required to be on the premises after hours. Students choosing to work alone should take all necessary precautions to ensure their own safety. This includes: a) using the "buddy system" and/or notifying someone of their intent to work alone by communicating the time and exact location; b) being aware of emergency protocols, including the location of emergency phones, medical devices and/or exits; and, c) utilizing University programs, such as "SafeWalk" as a precaution. We strongly recommend that all students working in the building after hours keep their mobile devices on their person.

Students should be vigilant in their surroundings. This includes reporting suspicious individuals and/or activity to UAlberta Protective Services. Emergencies should be reported to Edmonton Police Services via 911.We also ask students to carry their ONEcard at all times in order to access restricted areas. Please do not prop doors open and be wary of "tailgating" (when an individual follows you through a locked door without utilizing a card / key). Valuables should be kept on your person at all times.

Copyright (c) Michael Frishkopf, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta (2018)