Delivering Instruction to the Distance Learner

During the 1960s and 1970s, a number of alternatives to traditional higher education developed in the United States as a direct result of numerous social upheavals. National trends that included the rapidly rising costs of traditional education, curiosity with informal and nontraditional education, increasingly mobile populations, growth of career-oriented predilection, the quickening pace of new technologies (and, therefore, the need for learning new skills), and general public dissatisfaction with educational institutions brought about a mounting interest in distance learning.

Little Red Songbooks: Songs for the Labor Force of America

Since the early part of the twentieth century, there have been selected colleges in the United States dedicated to the training of future leaders for labor unions. Four of the most prominent are Work Peoples' College, Duluth, Minnesota; Brookwood College, Katonah, New York; Commonwealth College, Mena, Arkansas; and Highlander College, Monteagle, Tennessee. Education at these colleges, including music education, ran counter to the educational establishment of their time. Issues of labor versus management, traditional versus nontraditional education, and structured (formal) curricula versus practical (informal) curricula are all in evidence. All four institutions had songbooks. An examination of archival copies of these songbooks, within the context of the curricula of the schools and the labor movement in the United States, shows that nearly all the songs were parodies set to the folk and popular tunes of the day. These songs provided a means through which to teach union solidarity and labor concepts. Music education at these colleges was generally done on an informal basis. Students developed their skills as lyricists, song leaders, and performers through sing-alongs and the use of music in drama. Nontraditional though this was, the practical music training the students experienced in these labor colleges produced powerful results in their unions.

Roadblocks to Recognition: Issues for Nontraditional Degree Programs

What legal and quasi-legal constraints must nontraditional, especially experiential programs, overcome? Dr. Poppenhagen points to the need for recognition and monitoring of the relationships among various legitimizing agencies, and suggests the implications of these relationships for nontraditional education.