> Ico, > > Can you say a bit about the new courses you are going to be teaching? > Are you aware of anything similar being offered at any other > institutions? Hi Eric, First off, I must say I am very flattered by your interest in my opinion. That being said, I am sure that Stanford (CCRMA) has something like it as well as Eastman, University of Virginia, and perhaps even Columbia. Also many other institutions that do electroacoustic music do some open-source stuff albeit many of them do OS X exclusively. Apple enjoys strong patronage from the academic community even though it poses as an oxymoronic solution to those who seek true "freedom of expression" through use of their computers. In part, this is the case (IMHO) because OS X offers superficial ease of use coupled with eye-candy which is usually good enough for most people. Not optimal, but good enough. As far as my course is concerned, FWIW here's the short synopsis: The course will consist of a 2-quarter contiguous lectures that are split primarily into following topics: *history and importance of GNU *introduction to Linux *install/maintenance of Linux *categorical hands-on experience utilizing various audio-related software on Linux platform with the second quarter focusing more on the real-time interactive framework (major portion of the class) *various creative and practical assignments and/or projects That being said, I would not necessarily put much weight into my model and/or thoughts on this matter simply because I am not a person with lots of teaching experience nor was I one to pioneer such a teaching model utilizing GNU platform/software. Perhaps posing the same question to someone like Nando at CCRMA would probably yield a much more exhaustive and accurate response. > Not being geographically limited is one of the greatest benefits of > information available for study on the web. Traditional classroom > coursework can only reach those who can get to the classroom. Freedom of > scheduling is also a benefit of online learning. I ran out of debt > eligibility before I finished my undergraduate degree. I had to get a > job and start working and finish the degree on the side working at it > part time. Now I need to continue working. I can't afford to go to > school full time anymore. But, I still want to continue learning. I > really wish I could give up my job and dedicate all of my time for two > or three more years to learning, but I just can't see how to make it > feasible. I agree that external pressure and deadlines are helpful in The cost can be certainly very prohibitive and I completely agree and sympathize with you. FWIW I offer my class for 0-3 undergraduate or graduate credits. That way if someone wants to take the class but does not want to (or more importantly cannot) spend money on it, they still can participate in it by registering for 0 credit-hours and therefore not having to pay anything. This way I feel that at least on some level I am offering an avenue through which students can be exposed to the GNU/Linux and at the same time I am retaining some of the GNU doctrine by making it potentially free. Besides, considering the amount of money I will receive for this gig, let's just say that I simply do this for the love of doing it (of course with a hope that one day I will land a job that will finally enable me to support my family)... There are also other options which cut costs, such as the evening college classes (which I have considered if my proposal for this gig were to fail). > the learning process. My difficulty is not so much postponing the least > urgent or not working hard enough, but rather defining boundaries > between topics ... setting specific goals and sticking to them with out > loosing focus by exploring tangetial subjects. This being my personal opinion rather than a known fact, it is my belief that this is where tutor's or teacher's guidance is critical. Online resources to be good enough to replace a need for guidance, must be extremely well structured and even then, they still only work for a fraction of the population. But the fact that they immediately offer tangential information via cross-linking is IMHO a double-edged sword: on one hand it offers unprecedented ease of access to the pertinent information, on the other hand it poses as an unavoidable distraction. This is why many of the books/lectures offer simplified explanations early on in the material so that the foundation of the knowledge is strong, something that is a critical factor for the successful mastering of the more complex material later on. There are, perhaps, ways of alleviating this issue by building a site that would function in two modes: as a reference, and as a tutor/learning tool. But that in itself would simply create even more Web maintenance headaches... I guess what I am trying to get at is that IMHO the best solution nowadays is to have both options available (classes and Web resources) and that way those who can learn purely from resources can do so, while the rest of the population can (in most cases) use the help in a from of a tutor/class. > Thanks in advance for any insight you might be able to offer. It's my pleasure! I just hope that you got something of value from my long ramble :-) Best wishes, Ico --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. 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