Faculty members like Midge Thomas, Sylvia Marx Professor of Music, are embracing Open Educational Resources in their courses. Professor Thomas’s journey began by exploring the wealth of OER available in the field of music theory, where Thomas saw the potential to improve the learning experience for her students and decrease costs. Encouraged by the positive response from her students, she took a significant step forward by securing an OER Grant in 2022. This grant aimed to support a “deliberate, organized, and effective” implementation of OER in Music 206: Harmony, Melody, Rhythm.
Thomas notes that students truly appreciate the use of OER, especially when it comes to technology integration. The incorporation of embedded audio and video in music theory OER provides an engaging and dynamic learning environment for her students. She uses chapters from several different online resources, seamlessly linked on the Moodle platform. Additionally, she leverages a website for ear-training exercises and an online music notation platform.
Acknowledging the need for additional resources, Thomas is actively involved in creating complementary worksheets to further support her students’ learning. She feels fortunate to be part of a field that embraces OER and is grateful for the support from Information Services (IS) whenever questions or barriers arise.
The success of OER in Music 206 led to a natural expansion of its use across Thomas’s other classes, including Music 130, 206, 223, and now 323. Thomas sees the adoption of OER as a reflection of the evolving landscape in music education, where faculty members are not only using but also creating OER to enhance interactivity, allowing students to hear sounds and see scores.