Reflection to reading - Music Technology Week 1

            Based on what I read in chapter one of William Bauer’s Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing, and Responding to Music, technology has become, and continues to become even more, an integral part of everyday life and education. People have the capability to socialize, and collaborate with people from all over the world through the use of social media and digital technology. Students are able to communicate with their friends and family members through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others. They can also communicate with each other through the use of video games either on consoles or handheld mobile devices.

Educators use technology in their classrooms every day, whether is through use of computers, whiteboards, projects, etc. The use of technology, particularly digital technology, has shown to slightly improve students’ learning capabilities (Bauer, p. 7).  In my teaching situation, every classroom at my school has an interactive smartboard setup. I typically only use the smartboard to post my objectives for the day and show videos to my students. There are times when I have students come up to the smartboard and use it as a learning tool. Bauer states that today’s youth are considered to be digital natives and are immersed in technology (p. 5). My students are quite savvy when it comes time to interactively use the smartboard or any other source of technology in the room.

I would like to expand on what Bauer writes in this first chapter. I have found the digital technology not only enhances my students’ learning capabilities, but it also helps keep my students engaged throughout the class. I appreciate the statement made by Bauer (p. 7) that through the use of technology, students can take control over their own learning. In our school district, there is a push toward student-centered learning. The teacher should not be the only one directing the learning, the students need to take partial responsibility for their own education. The use of technology allows students to take on that responsibility with a hands-on approach to education as well as keep students engaged.

A shift in my teaching style was made at the beginning of this school year. I really wanted to focus on the “creating” component of music education. This year, and in past years, I have had my students compose brief compositions using tradition staff paper and acoustic instruments. However, the lesson was always prefaced with an interactive digital lesson on the smartboard where students used a website to create a “hip-hop” style musical background. The compositions were then performed, typically on the piano by the teacher, using the background music. In reading this chapter, I have discovered ways in which students can compose music using something other than the tradition pen and paper. While I thought my students did well with their compositions, I feel like students might be able to tap into their creative sides even more using certain programs such as Music-COMP. Technology in the classroom is there for a reason: to assist the teacher and the students in creating a learning environment suitable for everyone.    

References:

Bauer, W. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.