The word itself drips with trendiness: Google. Plus, “hangout” doesn’t really make you think of scholarly pursuits, does it?
But there it is. “Google Hangouts” is the new place to go! And we’re going.
Starting with our Spring 2014 courses, we’ve added Google Hangouts to our ”teaching” bag of tricks. Here’s why.
Google Hangouts On Air are the most flexible and accessible technology we have found for presenting our live webinars and teaching sessions.
They are simple to use, both for the presenter and the participants. You don’t need to load software or plod through an unfamiliar webinar system. You don’t even need a Google+ account to attend. A YouTube link will take you directly to the session. There will be Q&A for live participants, and the session will be recorded and archived for viewing whenever you wish.
And, best of all, Google Hangouts make it easy to bring in guests: specialists and enthusiasts from all over the world.
So, we’re switching—for the live sessions, that is. Our regular course materials (pre-recorded class instruction, listening and assignment sheets, timelines, vocabulary, galleries, supplemental videos and projects) will all be there just as the have been—fixed on the course page as you’d expect to find them.
To get the most out of our new Google Hangout sessions, we invite you to complete the course materials for the unit before the Hangout occurs. Think of it the old-fashioned way: do the course preparation and then come to class.
In fact, this new Google resource will allow us to keep presenting our course materials in a structured manner in video and written form, yet still have expansive, even freewheeling discussion in the Hangout.
Here are the Google Hangouts for the classes on our Spring 2014 schedule: Early Sacred Music and America’s Artistic Legacy II.
- Early Sacred Music Hangouts are on Mondays at 1:00 P.M. Eastern (12:00 Central).
- America’s Artistic Legacy (2nd Semester) Hangouts are on Mondays at 3:00 P.M. Eastern (2:00 Central).
For Discovering Music, Imperial Russia, and the first semester of America’s Artistic Legacy I, all materials for the entire course are available whenever you want them.
Remember you don’t have to have a Google Plus account to attend the Hangouts, but you if you are a Google+ person . . . well, you know what to do.
