AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Performing Arts
Audio Technology Program

ATEC-650: Audio Technology Seminar

Credits: 3 Prerequisites: Admission to the MA ATEC
program
Class Times: TBA Class Location: Katzen
Instructor: Paul Oehlers Email: oehlers@american.edu
Office: Kreeger T07 Office Hours: TBA
Contact Phone: 301-787-3937 DPA Phone: 202-885-3420

Course Description: This course enables students to pursue advanced discipline-specific
projects, which may include traditional scholarship, electro-acoustic instrument design and
construction, advanced live sound reinforcement techniques, post-production audio for film and
video, audio engineering for compact disc recordings, and electro-acoustic music composition.
This course is designed to prepare students for completion of a masters level portfolio or thesis
project.

Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
Write a properly formatted annotated bibliography, literature review, and research paper
Discuss best possible methods for researching materials in the library and completing research
projects.
Properly use MLA format in your research work.

Assessment Tools: During this course, outcomes mastery will be evaluated by:

Annotated Bibliography 30% Grading is assessed using a rubric.
Literature Review 30% Grading is assessed using a rubric.
Final project/presentation 40% Grading is assessed using a rubric.

Grading Scale:

A 95 - 100 points
A- 90 94
B+ 88 - 89
B 85 87
B- 80 84
C+ 78 - 79
C 75 77
C- 70 74
D+ 68 - 69
D 65 67
D- 60 - 64
F 59 and below

Projects and evaluation
This course requires students to demonstrate your critical engagement with readings and issues
of research design through questions, presentations and discussion in class, and project
completion.
1. Students will prepare questions and presentations for their peers based on the readings.
A portion of the final evaluation will reflect the extent to which the students
questions, presentations, and participation in class demonstrate engagement with the
materials and seriousness of purpose as a researcher-in-training.
2. Students will use readings and class discussions to produce methodological and
research design descriptions and evaluations of several different pieces of research or
debates over research that appear in the popular press/trade magazines. You will be
evaluated on this research discipline through your annotated bibliography, literature
review, and final project.
3. For your final project, you will prepare materials for a proposed research project. You
will be evaluated on the extent to which your materials describe your proposed project
in terms conforming to common research practices.
Discussion participation
Students are expected to read articles and research materials and participate and in class
discussions.
Readings:

Research Methods in Applied Settings: An Integrated Approach to Design and Analysis By
Jeffrey A. Gliner, George A. Morgan and Nancy L. Leech.
Selected topics vary depending on student research

In general, readings from the following:

Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
The Computer Music Journal
Organized Sound
Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference
Journal on the Art of Record Production
Journal of Music, Technology, and Education
eContact!
Journal SEAMUS
Mix
Recording
Electronic Musician
EQ
Tape Op
Other audio related articles through websites and other projects


Week 1 Welcome
A review of the syllabus
A writing pre-test
Reading: Gliner: Section 1 (Chapters 1 and
2)
Week 2 What is research/scholarship?
Peer review
Framing your research
Some models:
Text Books
Academic journal articles
Trade journal articles
Studio reports
Documenting your work:
recording notes, track sheets, etc.
Reading: Gliner: Section 2 (Chapters 3-8)
Week 3 Collecting Data/Statistics Reading: Gliner: Section 3 (Chapters 9-15)
Week 4 Picking a research topicq
Annotated bibliographies
Assignments: Pick a research topic
Annotated Bibliography Due Week 8
Week 6 Navigating the library
Guest speaker: Nobue Matsuoka
(Performing Arts Librarian)
Readings: At least ten readings on your
subject area for your annotated
bibliography
Week 7 Individual Meetings for
Annotated bibliographies
Readings: At least ten readings (part 2) on
your subject area for your annotated
bibliography
Week 8 Literature Reviews Annotated Bibliographies Due
Week 9 Individual Meetings for Literature
reviews
Students will show their Literature Reviews
during the individual meetings
Week 10 Selecting your final project:
Text Book Chapter
Journal Article
Support for a practical project
Literature Reviews Due
Final project assigned
Week 11 Individual Meetings During the individual meetings, we will map
out a timeline for your final project.
Week 12 A crash course in Grant Writing
Possible guest speaker: Regan
Spurlock DC Commission on
the Arts and Humanities
Week 13 A few odds and ends
The academic vs. the professional
world, Resumes vs. CVs,
Websites, Tech stuff you may
want to know
In addition to class We will hold Individual
Meetings for final Preparation of your
paper/presentation
Week 14 Paper/presentations 1
Week 15 Paper/presentations 2




Academic Integrity/Plagiarism: The Academic Integrity Code for the American University
describes standards for academic conduct, rights and responsibilities of members of the academic
community, and procedures for handling allegations of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty
as defined by the Code includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism, inappropriate collaboration,
dishonesty in examinations (in-class or take-home), dishonesty in papers, work done for one course
and submitted to another, deliberate falsification of data, interference with other students' work, and
copyright violations (including both document and software copyrights). Copies of the Academic
Integrity Code are available from the Office of the University Registrar.

Plagiarism is defined as taking the language, ideas, or thoughts of another, and representing them as
your own. If you use someone's ideas, cite them; if you use someone's words, clearly mark them as a
quotation. Plagiarism includes using another's computer programs or pieces of a program. Consult
one of the many "writer's guides" that are available in the library and bookstores for citation
practices. All instances of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences for appropriate action.

Emergency Preparedness: In the event of a declared pandemic (influenza or other
communicable disease), American University will implement a plan for meeting the needs of all
members of the university community. Should the university be required to close for a period of
time, we are committed to ensuring that all aspects of our educational programs will be delivered
to our students. These may include altering and extending the duration of the traditional term
schedule to complete essential instruction in the traditional format and/or use of distance
instructional methods. Specific strategies will vary from class to class, depending on the format
of the course and the timing of the emergency. Faculty will communicate class-specific
information to students via AU e-mail and Blackboard, while students must inform their faculty
immediately of any absence due to illness. Students are responsible for checking their AU e-
mail regularly and keeping themselves informed of emergencies. In the event of a declared
pandemic or other emergency, students should refer to the AU Web site (www. prepared.
american.edu) and the AU information line at (202) 885-1100 for general university-wide
information, as well as contact their faculty and/or respective deans office for course and
school/ college-specific information.