Long Beach City College’s (LBCC) Music Department has developed a HyperCard-based information and scheduling system designed to help students and teachers with course enrollment, lab use, and general information. The Music Management System, authored by Dr. George Shaw, lets students access course descriptions and biographies of instructors while allowing faculty to view basic information on students. The system is divided into six separate modules that share information via HyperCard links. The modules include an information center, a lab time keeper, a student manager, a studio scheduler, a student registry, and the LBCC Information Center.
The Information Center forms the cornerstone of the Music Management System’s modules. Using the Information Center, the faculty provides descriptions of courses as well as instructors’ autobiographies that can be accessed by students. Students can use the information to choose and schedule classes.
The course descriptions include office hours, phone numbers and class availability in an easy-to-browse format. Instructors’ biographies inform students of instructors’ office hours, phone numbers, and what courses they teach.
Course and instructor data is updated on-line, allowing students to view up-to-the-minute information. The data in the information center is automatically linked to other modules in the Music Management System and helps provide comprehensive management capabilities.
The Music Management System’s Student Manager module is a comprehensive database that allows instructors to access student information. Essential personal data such as addresses, phone numbers, and course schedules is kept alongside data that helps instructors manage equipment inventory and studio scheduling.
Working in conjunction with the Information Center and the Student Manager, the Studio Scheduler provides an easy way to schedule equipment and the studio as well as track a student’s class activity. Students’ names or ID numbers are tied to blocks of time on specific pieces of equipment. Their time on each piece of equipment is then logged on their record in the Student Manager, allowing users to keep track of studio use. At the end of the semester, instructors can click a button to request a comprehensive list of all studio activity on a student or studio basis.
The computer time-keeping module schedules students’ use of the department’s 65 music lab stations. Music students, who are required by the department to work outside of class in the music labs, keep track of their computer lab use by logging on to the computer lab time keeper. The system also allows instructors to monitor students’ lab use.
Long Beach City College also provides a Student Registry that lets students enter their names into a database. The registry’s search functions make it easy for students to find fellow students with similar interests and skills in composing, performing, or just listening to music.
The Music Management System’s modular design allows institutions to install only the modules they need. Since each module can be run independently, the Management System can be run on as little as a single Macintosh Classic with 1 megabyte of RAM and a hard drive.
Contact: Dr. George Shaw, Century 22 Productions, PO Box 30122, Long Beach, CA 90853; (213) 420-4111.
