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.
Related categories:
News
Related Reading
Unsure About Fall Plans? Consider Studying in Spain. For the first time, the Valencia campus is open to all undergraduates, offering students an opportunity to spend their semester or academic year abroad.
Creating a Vibrant Campus Life Experience Online Berklee's Campus Life staff and student leaders have found new ways to engage the campus community online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid Coronavirus Challenges, Courtney Powers Finds New Ways to Inspire Students The alumna and high school music director recently earned a 2021 Music Educator Award nomination.
More from Berklee Now
Most Popular
The Shape of Jazz to Come A new institute aims to create a more inclusive bandstand.
Latest
Scarlet Keys Redefines Homework in Her Remote Songwriting Courses Even during a pandemic, faculty, such as Keys, are finding ways to work closely with students despite not being nearby.
Songs for Social Change Contest Winners Announced The annual contest, presented by Berklees Songwriting Department and Songs for Social Change initiative, encourages students to write songs that promote positive change.
Unsure About Fall Plans? Consider Studying in Spain. For the first time, the Valencia ca
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
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.
