Verified Document

Higher Ed Course Design: 20th Century History Essay

Higher Ed Course Course Design: 20th Century History and Popular Music

Course Description:

For many students, popular music is scene as being disposable and readily replaceable. The nature of the modern media cycle means that much of what dominates the sphere of popular music is inherently designed to achieve vast commercial appeal with a short shelf-life. However, there are also ways in which popular music has figured critically into moments in history. This is the premise that underscores the proposed higher education course, which would be couched within the broader discipline of History.

The proposed course is intended to draw parallels between important moments in history and the way that the culture of popular music connected to these moments or in some powerful instances such as the British Invasion, Woodstock and the Hip Hop movement, even came to define some of these important historical moments. Using different eras in history to formulate the respective units discussed, the course would give students an opportunity to make lasting and personal connections between moments in history and the way that expression responded to or influenced these moments through the medium of popular music.

One of the most exciting dimensions of a course designed this way is that it engages students on a level that is familiar and even exciting to them. For many, the idea of drawing connections between their own musical tastes and important moments in history opens the door to a far more personal way of engaging standard course material such as that on American post-World War II culture, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement and that various fluctuations in urban population over the whole of the 20th century. The course will demonstrate that we can frame discussion on these subjects in ways that reduce reliance on ethnocentric historical accounts by using this artistic and commercial medium of music.

This complies with evolving learning theories such as that espoused in the text by Hurtado et al. (1999), which asserts that institutions of higher education must work harder to effectively embrace the diversity that is a growing characteristic for most univerisities. According to Hurtado et al., "the needed fundamental institutional changes would include a conceptual shift in thinking about diversity and about an institution's overall teaching and learning priorities, in addition to structural changes that...

1)
The content and orientation of the proposed course would adhere to Hurtado's vision.

Course Learning Outcomes:

The course learning outcomes center on both the historical and the musical content of the course material. Thus, objectives include the following:

1. Provide a framework for learning 20th century American history that is at once informative and engaging.

2. Provide a framework to introduce students to a wide range of historically significant musical performances, recordings, artists and movements.

3. Require students to draw critical connections between moments in history and musical recordings.

4. Engage in far-ranging classroom discussions aimed at evaluating the cultural impact of the music and, similarly, the impact of culture on said music.

5. Invite students to establish connections between the music that is important in their lives and moments in culture and history.

Course Design:

In order to promote the accomplishment of the learning objectives stated here above, the course would be divided by chronological moments. The four course sessions would represent four distinct moments in history and would consequently provide a clean framework for dividing course content.

With the modern era of popular music initiating in the 1950s, with the birth of Rock and Roll and the appearance of Elvis Presley on television and the charts, the Post-WWII era comprises the first course session. The second session would be centered on the Protest Movement which initiates with the Civil Rights Era in the mid-1960s and proceeds to the Disco-dominated Gay Rights movement of the late 1970s. The third unit would assess the late Cold War era of the 1980s and early 1990s, where MTV was a dominant musical and cultural force. The fourth and final unit would concern the present Digital Age and would give students the best opportunity to draw a direct connection between the course material and some media content that may be significant in their personal lives.

Within the context of each individual unit, class time would revolve on a combination of historical lecture, group media listening and class discussion. Each class would begin with a concise background on the moment in history, which would segue into some listening…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited:

Hiebert, J. & Morris, A.K. (2012). Teaching, Rather Than Teachers, As a Path Toward Improving Classroom Instruction. Journal of Teacher Education, 63(2), 92-102.

Hurtado, S.; Milem, J.; Clayton-Pederson, A. & Allen, W. (1999). Enacting Diverse Learning Environments: Improving the Climate for Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education. ERIC Digest.

Shaw, K. (2012). Leadership Through Instructional Design in Higher Education. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(3).
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

History of Condoms While Many People Believe
Words: 3851 Length: 15 Document Type: Term Paper

History Of Condoms While many people believe that condoms are a relatively new form of contraceptive, created not so long ago, this is far from true. Many historians believe that, in ancient Egypt, pharaohs used papyrus reeds to cover their penises during sex. Ancient Roman soldiers are believed to have used dried sheep intestines as condoms, as well (Parisot, 1987, pp. 4-6). In the East, the Chinese used oiled silk paper,

History and Development of Sound Technologies and Sound Design in...
Words: 11249 Length: 40 Document Type: Dissertation or Thesis complete

sound technologies and sound design in Film Sound in films Experiments in Early Age Developments Crucial innovations Commercialization of sound cinema: U.S., Europe, and Japan Sound Design Unified sound in film production Sound designers in Cinematography Sound Recording Technologies History of Sound Recording Technology Film sound technology Modern Digital Technology History of sound in films Developments Sound Design Sound Recording Technologies The film industry is a significant beneficiary of performing arts. The liberal arts combined with latest techniques and advancements experienced a number of stages. The

Immigration in America: 19th Century
Words: 2190 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

This doesn't explain why the Irish had such a difficult time, but in America, religious differences are often the cause of intolerance as well. The truth is that without immigrants in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century -- and of course the two hundred years before this, this nation would not be where or what it is today and to remain true to our roots we must accept that

Technology in History
Words: 2807 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Technology [...] food processing in history, and how the development of food processing technologies has altered lives for the better. Food processing, and the healthy, edible food it produces, is taken for granted in today's society. However, in the nineteenth century, fresh food was not normal, and technologies were developed to preserve food, so that more Americans could enjoy fresh, wholesome food year round. It was one of the

Fashion Photography Advertising in High-
Words: 4689 Length: 14 Document Type: Term Paper

Later on, throughout the 1930s, fashion photographs were principally created in studios, to take advantage of being able to carefully control lighting, composition and pose (Grossman 1). However, outdoor photo shoots were not unheard of. It has been noted that these outdoor photographs "carried an allusion of authenticity and spontaneity that made the fashionable clothes appear more vibrant than the sculptural effects of studio photographs could achieve" (Grossman 1). With

Contemporary History
Words: 3249 Length: 9 Document Type: Research Paper

influential factor in the evolution of the international world of politics following the end of World War II was the interrelationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. The conflictive positions between the two states influenced both the evolution of highly dominant states as well as minor governments. The world divided into two military fronts, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) -- 1949, and the Warsaw Pact in

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now