Anna, The other thing you want to do, as you start learning how to apply TBL to a course like music appreciation, is spend some time thinking about what you want students to be able to DO, three years or so after the course is over. My hunch is that you it might be something like: Be able to listen to a new piece of music and identify its era or general style (classic, romantic, baroque, blues, swing); identify what the composer is doing with rhythm, instrumentation, harmonies; etc. Then, whatever these thinking tasks turn out to be, you can start the process of "backward design": Given what you want students to be able to do well by the end of the course (and thereafter): * What would they have to do DURING the course, to learn how to do that well at the end? * What would they have to know, i.e., read and study, in order to do that during the course? One other thing I would like to see students who have graduated from a course like be able to do, is to create their own "music listening plan". This is an individual activity, not a team-activity. But if students could begin the process of creating a general set of categories of music (classic, popular; traditional, recent; western, non-western; and so forth), and then think about generating "listening moments" for live or recorded music, they would then realize that they need to think about (a) what they have recently listened to and, as a result, (b) what they want to listen to next - that would be an extremely good thing in terms of empowering them to intentionally make music a live and vibrant part of their life. I know of a literature person who tried this with literature. At first, students were bewildered because it was so different from the traditions in English courses. But after they saw where the teacher was headed and what they were able to start doing, they really liked it and appreciated what the teacher was doing. In this case, students were creating a "reading plan", but it was the same idea. Hope this gives you some ideas to think about, Dee Fink At 07:52 PM 11/9/2007, Anna Rubin wrote: >Friends, I'm a new subscriber and just getting exposed to this >approach. I am most interested in applying this to a music >appreciation course. Are any of you aware of models I could look at >in humanities areas? I haven't seen any so far. Much of the task of >the class is listening to a variety of musics, understanding musical >rudiments and forms, and how those forms reflect the social >structures they come out of. Best, Anna Rubin * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * L. Dee Fink Phone: 405-364-6464 234 Foreman Ave Email: [log in to unmask] Norman, OK 73069 FAX: 405-364-6464 Website: www.finkconsulting.info **National Project Director, Teaching & Curriculum Assessment Project **Senior Associate, Dee Fink & Associates Consulting Services **Author of: Creating Significant Learning Experiences (Jossey-Bass, 2003) **Former President of the POD Network [Professional and Organizational Development] in Higher Education (2004-2005)