Thing 17: Classrooms without walls

This is an interesting assignment, because at Olin College we are constantly striving for innovation, and there are a number of things going on all the time which by design push the boundaries of the traditional education experience.

Once such thing is called a "co-curricular": this is an un-graded class which students participate in, in order to expand their horizons in some new area. Examples include foreign language tables, Jazz and Blues excursions, an examination of archives and special collections we used to jump-start our own archives with student help, etc.

One that I was involved in last semester, the Blues Co-curricular, included students performing the pieces we listened to in class on their own. I'm not sure how problematic it would have been from a copyright standpoint to try to mount the published pieces either on the web or via a course software system like the one described in this thing, however, I'm sure it would have been no problem to use such a delivery system to record and publish the students own pieces.

The pieces could be combined with links to online content, background, playlists of professional performers and/or venues, etc. Something to consider for next time.