The active learning exercise would be the creation of a professional-ISH sounding podcast, or song, or audio file of any kind. Actually, I’m wondering now if group work might be a better way of proceeding with an evaluation of this project. That way, students could engage with each other in a conversation, and record it and submit it. I think that, especially starting out, I would allow group work. Some students (like myself) would benefit more from having to do it by themselves, as I would let someone else do all the learning and coast, but lots of people collaborate and learn well together.

I’ll imagine that groups or individuals will both be welcome for evaluation. Anyway, the breakdown is:

Active learning activity: learners are tasked with the creation of a high quality audio file using Reaper, utilizing the steps and resources I have furnished the learner with. It can be on any topic that they like, but should demonstrate evidence of some editing, have even volume levels, and a clear and (reasonably) polished audio file.

Evaluation: each learner would submit an audio file that I would listen to and provide feedback on. I would open each file up in Reaper, and take a peek at the tools and methods used. I would furnish students with a rubric detailing what proficiency looks like (clear and even audio file, minimal editing, good clean sound), and how to get extending: numerous audio files, evidence of editing and balancing, as well as additional sound effects or instrumentation.

I will evaluate for the following objectives, based on the ones provided in the lesson plan in 2A:

I) Students have downloaded and opened reaper.
II) They have created a new project, and added vocal tracks for recording.
III) Students have recorded audio onto a track.
IV) The track has minimal evidence of editing: some panning left and right, or the volume has been brought up or down.
V) The track has been rendered into a listenable file type (wav, mp3) and exported for easy listening.
VI) Students would submit both the rendered file and the original reaper file.