The Georgia Tech School of Music is the first school in the College of Architecture to jump in to the massive open online course (MOOC) arena with associate professor Jason Freeman’s Survey of Music Technology course scheduled to begin Monday, August 26th.

 The six-week long course, offered through Coursera, explores how to use computers to create expressive music and how to write software to help create and organize sounds in new ways. Topics covered range from representations of digital sound and the MIDI specification to musical robots and new musical interfaces.

Students who complete the course with a 70% or better will receive a certificate of completion through Georgia Tech’s C21U. The response has been extremely positive thus far, with over 18,000 students already registered.

“I’m excited to share my passion for music technology with this large and diverse group of students,” said Jason Freeman, associate professor at the Georgia Tech School of Music and the course instructor. “The course we’ve developed examines a dynamic and growing interdisciplinary field from many creative and technological perspectives.”

While MOOCs are not new to higher education, they are new to the College of Architecture at Georgia Tech, of which the School of Music is a part. Newly appointed Dean Steve French is anxious to see the outcomes of Freeman’s MOOC.

“The Survey of Music Technology MOOC will by no stretch of the imagination be the first and last online offering out of the College of Architecture,” said Dean French. “Thanks go out to Jason Freeman for leading the way, we’ll be using his course as a model as we develop courses across the wide variety of disciplines we offer in the College – from architecture to industrial design to building construction.”

To register for The Survey of Music Technology, visit https://www.coursera.org/course/musictech.

About the Georgia Tech School of Music and the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology

Combining transdisciplinary research and technology with the art and tradition of music, the Georgia Tech School of Music and the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology offer mind-expanding performances and exhibitions; a leading graduate degree program in music technology; and a collaborative framework for students, researchers, government agencies and industry partners to transform the way we listen to, create and perform music.