Spotlight on Teaching: O'Brien Teaches More About Music Than Meets The Ear

Janis Leibold
July 1, 2000


Posted in LQP OnLine Fall 1997

Brooke Dillon-Sherrill
Spotlight Reporter

Students in James O'Brien's class can see music. O'Brien, a UA music professor, is moving right in to the next century of teaching music with the help of a computer.

O'Brien teaches Music 107, Music Appreciation; understanding music through listening. He has taught at the UA for 23 years and has numerous degrees including a master's degree in education and an master's of business administration from Arizona State University. O'Brien's use of computers in the classroom stems from his many years as an educator.

"The new technology helps keep us excited too," he said. "I can relate to students because I would be bored seeing the same thing day after day. This lets them get more involved." O'Brien said.

O'Brien's students find everything they need on the class' web site including the syllabus, homework questions, additional research on discussion topics and review questions for tests. Students can even hear samples of music when they visit the web site.
"The great thing about this is that students can surf if they want." O'Brien said. "We may be studying Ghana, so I provide a map of Ghana and students who want to can click on the map of Africa and explore as much and as long as they want."

This is the third semester O'Brien has used computers in his classroom. He knew the technology was available and wanted to incorporate it into his repertoire. O'Brien took some computer classes and developed the web sites for each class himself. He puts up to 100 hours into developing a web site, devoting most of his time to the extensive research that it requires, but says it's worth it.

He currently is working on an animation program that can be used in both lectures and for individual tutorials. This new program may be ready for classes in 1998. But O'Brien wants to make sure he has plenty of time to develop it so the students can truly appreciate what it will do. O'Brien also is currently researching the effect computers have on his students and how well they respond to it.

"The more active the students are with the computers, the more they seem to enjoy it." O'Brien said. "I really think it's better for my classroom."


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