Enhancing student engagement through an institutional blended learning initiative: A case study

Tertiary education institutions grapple with how to better engage students in their learning in high-enrolment, introductory courses. This paper presents a case study that examines a large-scale, faculty-level course redesign project in which this challenge was addressed through the use of blended learning models. The main research question was: Are students in blended formats engaged in their learning differently than those in the traditional formats? The first part of this paper describes the institutional policies, processes, and practices that were established to implement the course redesign project. The second part of the paper focuses on the effectiveness of the project, presenting the results of a longitudinal research study that examined changes in student engagement using the Classroom Survey of Student Engagement (CLASSE). The implications of the longitudinal evaluation and institutional strategy, structure, and support components are examined critically, as well as the project’s impact on students and on the larger university

The Moon and the Insomniac: Musical Personae in Elliott Carter's ";Insomnia";

Elliott Carter's system of setting a text is examined by means of an analysis of the song 'Insomnia' from A Mirror on Which to Dwell. The close relationship between the poetry and the music is seen in the way that Carter relates his music to the details of the poem, both in form and content. Linear continuities in the music, defined in terms of textural streams with specific musical characteristics, signify personae in the poem through their extra-musical connotations, while stream interaction and textural processes within individual streams relay Carter's interpretation of the text. The formal structure of the poem generates the large-scale tripartite form of the song and plays a role in determining smaller-scale musical subsections. The analytical method presented in this paper, with its focus on linear texture, is appropriate for the analysis of other recent compositions by Carter. (SA J Musicology: 1999/2000 19/20: 57-70

Texture in Elliott Carter’s A mirror on which to dwell

This study proposes a theory of texture for Elliott Carter's song cycle A Mirror on Which to Dwell. Texture is an important structural aspect of much recent music, as is exemplified in Carter's music. The first chapter is introductory and discusses other textural theories, and the concept of auditory streams. It also provides background to Elizabeth Bishop and to the poems that Carter selected for the cycle, and introduces the song cycle as a whole. The second chapter outlines a textural theory based on streaming. Texture is defined as comprising those contextually defined aspects of sound which lead one to perceive music as consisting of distinct streams. Individual streams are defined by properties, behaviours processes. The ways in which streams are combined, and the changes that occur in the streams during the combinations constitute textural behaviours and processes. The third chapter presents the ways in which textural behaviours and processes can function. They can have symbolic functions by representing personae and actions in the text. They can also have musical functions and thus can play a role in the delineation of form. In the fourth chapter each song in the Mirror cycle is analyzed. Songs that are texturally clear are analyzed first, followed by those that are more texturally complex. Because of the close relationship between text and music in these songs, each analysis starts with a discussion of the text before turning to the music. The main textural features of each song are presented, and then the analytical discussion focuses on form and text-setting. In the conclusion an overview of the songs is presented. The songs, although formally diverse, are similar in many respects. In all of them Carter establishes the important streams, some of which have significant symbolic roles, in the opening measures. The songs are characterized by similar textural processes, which help to delineate the form of the songs and to portray musically the meaning of the text. An analysis of these songs using the textural theory presented in this study provides insight into their form and meaning.Arts, Faculty ofMusic, School ofGraduat