Reflections on Module 1

This was a very interesting week to get started within my current class at University of Florida, Technology Assisted Music Learning.   In Module 1 there were many topics covered to get myself and the rest of the class introduced to the topic, and I quickly found that this was not to be just a class about teaching me software that could be useful in teaching, but how to truly build lessons out of a combination of using my Content Knowledge (knowledge about music), Pedagogical Knowledge (knowledge about education), and Technological Knowledge (knowledge about technology).  This combination of overlap between the three areas should produce a "sweet spot" in which the most effective learning of a subject matter with the right tools (possibly technology) is taking place, and is referred to by Bauer (2014) as TPACK, or a "well developed Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge off which to plan lessons.  I have heard of similar thinking in the past with content and pedagogical knowledge overlapping in order teach something specific in which the educator has more knowledge, such as music, but I honestly had never heard of combining technological knowledge into this mix.  Outside of this are the contextual factors, like the environment etc.  In the case of music education, I can see this as the teacher's ability to plan a lesson on composition utilizing their content knowledge of what that entails, in addition to applying appropriate pedagogical knowledge that is appropriate to the students' age and level of expertise, and incorporating technology such as GarageBand or notation software to help guide the student learning without the technology getting in the way of student learning in countless ways such as by being having the lesson become more focused on the software than the compositional process.

Another point brought up by the reading in the text this week that seems related to the above was a breath of fresh air, helping me to realize how grounded this author is in the subject.  This was mention of carefully weighing the "affordances (benefits) and constraints (limiting factors) in relation to learning outcomes and the classroom context."  (Bauer, 2014, p.10)  In a method the author describes as a "cost/benefit analysis" a stock must be taken of how much the technology actually is helping the learning process, which I believe in this age where technology is so prevalent in our lives it has become easy for education initiatives to have been brought forth to almost force-feed learning to students through technology, whether it is the most appropriate methodology or not.  The text also pointed out that it seems many teachers would love to use technology more, but are not familiar enough with either the software (both in terms of knowing what is available and in knowing the inner workings of each program/hardware that is available to them) and/or how to effectively incorporate said technology into their learning in such a way that it enhances what they are doing as opposed to being a hassle.  (Bauer, pp. 9-10)  The statements made by Bauer that many educators that see the value in incorporation of technology into more effective music learning because of those reasons and instead using technology for more administrative tasks sounds so much like me it is almost embarrassing.  Technology is everywhere and I wish to utilize it to it's fullest extent, but I feel like I am at a loss in terms of the background knowledge required to get started.  I look forward to this class to help me overcome these struggles.

The thing that stood out most to me this week however was the use of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) to help with both research and collaboration between others to quickly find the information I wish to seek as a music educator.  The article by the same author as in the above paragraph William Bauer (2010) was quite overwhelming at first, primarily with the amount I did not know about the subject.  I had never heard the term Folksonomies or  Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and having to get started using an RSS reader to compile websites and blogs and videos and anything else I could find seemed daunting.  After only a few short days, compiling my PLN does not seem as difficult as keeping up with it in all its various forms, from Feedly (an RSS reader) to Twitter (a site I had never subscribed to before) I feel inundated with information that I will never have enough time to process and absorb it all.  I know that this is probably just a factor of it being new to me and I will get used to it, but it still seems like a lot all at once.  Despite my misgivings, I cannot deny the fact that I have found countless resources at my disposal for countless subject related to music education from a myriad of different source utilizing my new-found PLN, and a part of me worries that I may get too sucked into the web researching all these wonderful ideas rather than trying to use them.

Finally, the first assignment of using http://www.incredibox.com/ was a blast and helped to give me something tangible to both learn about and explore the educational implications of.  Such a simple compositional tool that students would love that has so many educational possibilities is a great item I can stash away in my educational "bag of tricks."

Summarized, this was an extremely enlightening week, that has filled me with promise that I will be a highly well-rounded music educator when it comes to use of technology incorporation by the end of this course, and I cannot wait to see what the next Module has in store for me and the rest of the class!

 

References

Bauer, W. (2010). Your personal learning network : professional development on demand.  Music Educators Journal. 97 (2), 37-42.

Bauer, W. (2014). Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing, and Responding to Music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.