Technology in the Classroom

11 Apr 2007 3 Comments

by juliek in Assignments, Music Education, Technology

This is a permalink to the question: http://mustech.wordpress.com/2007/03/26/technology-blogs-and-music-assignment-4/

 Technology is changing so fast that it’s hard to keep up. Programs are constantly coming out with new editions that offer different and more options. Newer editions of programs are usually better and offer easier ways to manipulate the program, but how are music teachers supposed to keep up? These programs are very expensive and they’re hard to keep updated. There are so many music computer programs offered that it’s under the teacher’s discretion to pick the best one. It would be impossible to teach all about all the programs offered. Each one has it’s own special capabilities but the teacher has to think about the student.(picture from yotophoto.com)

How should a teacher pick the technology to teach? An important factor to consider would be time. Not just the time that it will take to effectively teach the program and it’s capabilities but also classroom time. A lot of music programs are really cutting down on classes so it would be important to utilize the time given. Another factor would be needs of the student. There would be programs that are more suitable for advanced students and some that are more basic. It’s important to know what kind of students that are going to be taught beforehand. It’s always important to get the basics down first. It’s also important to think about what the students are going to use the technology for. How do you create a balance of teaching the different kinds of students? Not just students, but people are very individual and have individual abilities. Some students will be better with computers than others and will understand a lot more clearly, then others will struggle. It’s important to find a happy medium where you can challenge the technologically inclined students but also not too difficult that other students won’t be able to complete assignments.

 Another important factor to think about is school budget and access to music technology. If a teacher wants to teach a program effectively, are they going to be able to consistently get computer lab time, are there enough computers, or keyboards, or whatever is needed for everyone? Are the class sizes going to have to be small? Which would then leave some students out that are interested. Are students being denied exposure to music technology because of money? I realize there are a lot of school districts that have no problem with this, but then i also know of lots of school districts where funds and supplies are not what they should be.

 I realize that technology, especially in the realm of music, is going out and beyond what many people probably couldn’t have imagined, but how accessible is it going to be for the masses? Composing music now can be done at the touch of a button, if one knows how to use it. Maybe we don’t want to teach these so thoroughly. Will this teach the next generation to depend on computers to generate the music. I just don’t want classic theory and composition to be lost in translation.

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