Last week my Art of Teaching Contemporary Musicians class discussed and engaged with varied ways to start off middle school or high school students on a new aspect of technology (software or hardware). Here’s what I posted in the I Teach Music Technology! Facebook Group to identify people’s perspectives:
We had a great discussion & engagement this past week in my ASU Music Education Art of Teaching Contemporary Musicians course around the topic of first introducing middle school & high school students to specific technology through a mixture of direct instruction, guided inquiry, just-in-time teaching, scaffolding, & blended learning. Curious how all of you approach pedagogy when it comes to first getting started with new software / hardware – Do you take a direct instruction in front of class — students working in parallel — sequenced set of steps — students working at their own pace alone or in small groups – more inquiry based approach – blended with resources online or offline – do you create your own resources or curate other existing resources online -do you stay focused on tools/techniques at first or is it situated in a larger creative context etc. Would like to share your responses with our students if that is OK with you as well. Thanks for your perspectives!
There is much to say about this topic. At this point, I’m interested in sparking some conversation and building on the collective intelligence of music education folks who address technology in their programs (plus putting my money where my mouth is since I speak about the importance of Personal/Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) with students in the courses I facilitate). Specifically, I’m interested in the pedagogies people use. I’m also interested in why educators make certain decisions (i.e. lecturing with direct instruction, modeling in front of the class, engaging in guided inquiry, having students investigate on their own, etc.)
Helpful Resources for Technology and Pedagogy in Music Education
For research-based information that addresses music technology specifically, Jay Dorfman’s [affiliate link] Theory and Practice of Technology-Based Music Instruction is a fabulous resource!
The TPACK model developed by Mishra & Koehler can be a helpful framework for thinking through pedagogy from multiple nuanced perspectives.
Victoria Armstrong’s book [affiliate link] Technology and the Gendering of Music Education also has some interesting perspectives regarding gender and pedagogy.
Here are a set of curated resources related to technology for music learning and teaching.
Please consider adding your own perspective and approaches in the comments below: