(2217) JAZZ AS A LENS FOR CULTURAL LEARNING: HUMANITIES COURSEWORK IN GLOBALLY NETWORKED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

摘要

Jazz music was born in America and is performed, created and enjoyed worldwide. In this regard, ateam of jazz educators from the United States, South Africa, and Denmark with the shared vision ofdeveloping a course which embodies jazz music appreciation, performance, and the exploration of theinfluences of politics, language, and commerce on the lives of jazz artists, created a globallynetworked learning environment delivered in a new course during the Fall of 2012.The course entitled, Jazz! Born in America, Created Internationally, explored the definingcharacteristic elements of jazz - improvisation, spontaneity, and collaboration. What ensued was arich learning environment among North Carolina Central University (NCCU), University of South Africa(UNISA), and the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, (RAMA) for undergraduate and graduatestudents. The course intersected jazz, politics, class and culture in a shared history mirroring theevolution of jazz music.The successes and challenges for this collaborative online seminar are highlighted in this virtualpresentation case study. Each university partner had vastly different organizational structures,students, and class compositions. In addition, course planning, implementation, and delivery requiredunwavering commitment and cooperation from the twelve-member team. More importantly, the Jazz!Born in America, Created Internationally project, attempted to assess the cultural competencies ofstudents enrolled in the virtual study abroad seminar.