Scarlet Keys Redefines Homework in Her Remote Songwriting Courses

When Scarlet Keys, associate professor in the Songwriting Department, shifted to a fully remote environment in the spring, when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced campus closures, she worried about how to keep the students she saw on her screen engaged. When you're teaching, you're performing, so you're reading the room-what do they need? Am I boring them? What do I need to do right now to keep them engaged? she wondered.

But once she got into the remote-learning environment, she was surprised by how much more immediate some of her concepts and lessons were. In a classroom, you're often looking at the back of someone's head. In Zoom, you can see everyone's faces, Keys said.

At the same time, an online environment allows students to step away from the video discussion and work on new concepts moments after they're introduced. In her Songwriting 1 course this summer, for example, Keys takes advantage of the fact that students can step away from a video conference and instantly be in their creative space, whether thats a home studio or bedroom. So, she can tell students in the middle of a class session, You go, by yourself, take 10 minutes and go rewrite this bridge. And then come back and share.

In a way, she says, it's like doing the homework in the same session it was assigned. Which begs the question: if you're already home, is it even homework?

[A good teacher] develops their own authentic voice, develops the student's voice, and creates a space where the student can learn.

-Matthew Nicholl, Dean of the Professional Writing and Music Technology Division

The subject matter, of course, hasn't changed. For example, students are still learning about the Dorian mode, working on applying it on their own, and then sharing it with their classmates. The difference is simply timing-now they're learning, applying, and sharing all in the same session. That has actually been better than in the classroom, Keys said.

Keys's success with her students is less about the environment and more about being an effective teacher. As Matthew Nicholl, dean of the Professional Writing and Music Technology Division, points out, a good teacher develops their own authentic voice, develops the student's voice, and creates a space where the student can learn. The technology becomes unnoticeable when a teacher finds ways to be accessible and connected with the student. We may be remote, but they're not far away, philosophically speaking, Nicholl said.

Staying Engaged-and Safe-for the Fall Semster Nicholl's goals for the fall semester for his division-which includes the Songwriting Department-center on empowering faculty to create the kind of authentic space that Keys and many of her colleagues have fostered. The division is also intently focused on maintaining safe protocols for those who elect to be on campus, in order to continue to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Keeping Our Community Healthy

Read about the steps Berklee is taking to ensure safety for our entire community. Particularly relevant for Nicholl's division are the protocols regarding the use of studio space and gear. While Berklee is following the best practices as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nicholl mentioned that the use of musical equipment is simply outside the scope of the CDCs recommendations. Berklee is essentially building those [music-specific] protocols, Nicholl said, adding that the college is doing so in collaboration with other organizations, such as the Recording Academy (home to the Grammys), and working closely with representatives from Tufts, Berklee's health insurance provider.

Additionally, course schedules will be spread out, with half-hour transition times between each class to help students avoid screen fatigue, and with sessions offered between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. to accommodate students in other time zones. Even Saturday classes are being considered.

But what is not changing is the networking with, and access to, the faculty-and even visiting artists, who will hold both remote and in-person clinics. So even when a class is conducted fully online, engagement with faculty will still be high. According to Keys, flipping the classroom is a benefit. I'm able to tailor each class to the student, she said, adding that this allows her to create immediate opportunities for the students to apply what they're learning. It's a good reminder that we have to do it-it's not theoretical. You can't know it until you do it.

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