This semester of Technology in Music Education was both incredibly engaging and challenging. I’ll often find new forms of technology overwhelming to learn with my short attention span and reliance on instant-gratification. Each week of content helped me confront new concepts and ways of approaching technologies I am unfamiliar with. I really enjoyed the week on coding with the Kookaberry and Micro Bit as well as the weeks involving hands- n recording and editing of a class-produced music video. I am still to demystify Ableton and Premiere Pro, I think this will come down to devoting more time to experimenting with these.
I appreciate the honesty in discussion about technology and its place in the classroom, as wonderful as these tools are they must be used responsibly and appropriately to be effective. Being aware of the negative impacts of your chosen technologies on both yourself and your students essential to mediate and reduce risk of these having a serious impact on your day-to-day life. Ways I have seen these implemented in the classroom include student contracts for use of recording devices and social media at school. Use of direct instruction when to use devices and when to put them away further, designated times for the classroom teacher to spend using communication media such as the portal or email. These measures ensure the wellbeing of both students and teachers.
I was very relieved with the result of our Presentation of Learning. I can honestly say I am proud of the product that Julia and I created. It was so nice to present our projects to friends and peers (we enjoyed it so much we went over-time… ops!). It was amazing to see the creativity and skills of our cohort. I really wish there were more opportunities for Presentation of Learning among Music Education students as I always find so much inspiration, empowerment and motivation when seeing fellow students achieve amazing things. Technology in Music Education has definitely been a highlight in my final year at the con.