Class #3

"This doesn't mean that #SCMTME is cancelled today! We are a technology course, so I'm using my gazillions of techy resources to make a fun-packed online week for you." ~ James Humbo

James was off 'sick' today....

So he gave us some online work to do instead! After chatting with friends for the first hour of class, in the second hour I got some work done and, I guess... you could call the work "fun-packed".

The work was genuinely super interesting; critically discussing the pros and cons of technology in the classroom. This is something I'm very biased-ly passionate about (passionate against technology in the music classroom), so watching these videos really challenged my pedagogical views.

Lets get into it...

There were three sections to todays work:

1. James' lecture on thinking about technology critically

2. James' lecture on how to teach with technology effectively

3. Research on technology being good or bad

Section 1: Critical Thinking

The rise of technology has happened all so suddenly and recently in our society, now giving it control over our whole life, and yet we have no idea of the long-term effects it has. It's for this reason, paired with the ways I have first-hand experienced technologies negative short-term effects on me, that I do not like technology. Technology during my years of high school has helped me do incredible things, but it has also:

• Increased stress and anxiety: Because there is constant access to a device, there is constant access to being productive. Therefore I always feel like I need to be DOING something productive, and I won't give myself permission to stop and rest.

• Decreased my memory and attention span: The technology and social media that surrounds us is literally designed to GRAB our attention. This makes focusing on things that don't necessary forcibly grab your attention (like reading, listening to lectures, even at times conversations!) really difficult.

• Lowered self-esteem: Social media users share the best 10% of their life, and we subconsciously compare the 100% of our lives to their best 10%. OF COURSE this is going to make you feel like your life is not good, that you are not good, and everyone else is better than you! (NOT TRUE!)

• Less connection with self: When addicted to technology, it's what you turn to - when you're bored, lonely, sad, etc. But these are normal feelings that are to be felt and self reflected on - not shoved away! We need to embrace the good and bad company with ourselves.

• Increased FOMO: What better way to think and know all the things you could've done or weren't invited to on your Saturday night than scrolling through instagram and feel like you missed out...

• Spend more money: Technology is like Big Brother. It watches us (what we do on the screen). It knows the stuff we like, and it gives us a heap of advertisements on these things, paired with an easy option to just click on it and buy it. Yeah we could just have more self control, but it is still hard and easy to spend more.

• 'Multitasking': Surely we have all done the *watches TV while doing homework*. Yeah, well, multitasking doesn't exist. It's called task-switching. You're either doing one well and completely ignoring the other; or just doing them both badly.

• Decreased sleep: Checking your phone during the hours before bed, really harms your sleep. It's not just because of the blue light emitting from our screens, but the stimulating activities we do with our technology.

YES THIS IS A RANT! James did say to be critical.........

And I am talking very extreme cases here. But when you really are ADDICTED to technology, some of these negative effects can and will surely affect you.

Anyways... back on track to what James was actually talking about lol.

James' first lecture video encouraged us to think critically about technology and how it is used in the music classroom. As you can see, I've definitely thought critically about technology... but what about in the music classroom? Well... my argument used to be a BIG NO for technology in the music classroom because students should experience and do music with their hands! Playing a real instrument, singing from their real bodies, composing with real paper and a pen. But little did I know, past Emily was dumb and didn't realise you could still do all these things, experiencing and doing music, with greater possibilities, by using technology. So now I'm just a heap more interested in technology and how you can successfully use it in the music classroom, which this course is teaching me!!! YAY!

James talked about coming out of this course with a balanced view on music technology and traditional music, so that both are used and have their place in the classroom. To do this, looking at the positives and negatives are crucial, so that we, as teachers, can increase the positive outcomes and decrease the negative. We've already learnt about many positive outcomes from technology in music, focused on in previous blogs as we explored the many musical possibilities that can be created with music technology.

"Technology: learn anything, anywhere, anytime."

Today's blog will particularly explore the negative outcomes, and in the following weekly blogs I will endeavor to think critically about the use of said technology in the music classroom.

Section 2: Teaching with Technology

Here James talked about ways you can use technology well in the classroom, particularly drawing on powerpoint style teaching.

When sitting in a lecture and the lecturer flicks through their word-packed powerpoint slides while verbally unleashing a whole bunch of information at you, this is an ineffective use of technology. This is because teaching both things (visual and auditory information) at the same time increases the cognitive load so high that what is called the 'redundancy effect' is achieved, as students are given too much information, both relevant and irrelevant, clogging up their working memory which results in students not remembering the main information required.

Ways you can use technology well include:

• Use images or diagrams to illustrate, complete or help explain what you're talking about.

• Use words occasionally for emphasis and impact.

• Use a wide range of multimedia: recordings, scores, videos, class activities, etc.

James also talked about 'eye laser tracking' and how humans gather information from screens. People tend to read information in an F pattern, reading whatever goes on top, down the left hand side, and inwards a few times.

It's so crazy to see google, surely the most popular website, completely abide by this F pattern rule. It must work !!!! As a result, I edited a few things on my blog to make it easier for the human eye:

• Home page: move the 'About Me' information from the right hand side, to the left. Now the reader is more likely to read this section.

Before After

• Home page: Place the blog posts preview higher (they were quite low, you had to scroll a bit to find them).

• Blog posts: Instead of having them randomly dispersed throughout the column, I moved them to rows so that the reader can look down the side to find each weeks blog title.

Before After

• Contact page: Changing the information from centred font in the middle to font focused on the left hand side.

Before After

Section 3: MOOC

Look... if I'm going to be honest, I still don't know what MOOC means or stands for. I was hoping the video would explain it. Maybe it did, and I didn't catch it listening back at double speed.

Nevertheless... In this section, James assignment a heap of videos to watch. Here are my thoughts from some of the videos:

Video 1:

Mitra in Music: using technology in Informal Learning at a Musical Futures school in Melbourne

The opening question was super interesting,

"Can students learn music through only technology/the internet?" "Do we need music teachers?"

This lead into Lucy Green's informal learning approach where she combines the two, technology and teachers, to create an effective teaching approach that cultivates musical enjoyment, motivation and passion in students which therefore leads to learning success. Informal learning is basically where the students work on a project (making a band and putting together a song) in groups, so that the students are the ones driving the work. Teachers are only there for guidance to keep them on track in the right direction. Some informal learning tips were covered in this video:

• As a teacher, allow tonnes of room for experimentation. This will create a safe environment to build up students confidence and comfortability to make mistakes as they try and learn new things to improve their musicality.

• The informal learning approach is great because it cancels out older students apathetic view of music. They start to work on music projects that they are interested in, and therefore become more engaged and motivated to learn in the music classroom.

• When teaching, encourage a blend of classical learning styles (sheet music) and popular music learning styles (aurally learn). Let the students choose how they would like to learn, as they are almost completely teaching themselves!

• Explain the music theory when students ask questions. E.G. "Why doesn’t this sound right?" ( I - IV - V ) "Why can’t I play this?" (teach correct playing technique)

Video 4:

What the research says: James has a rant about what the research tells us

Dimitri Kristakos' research suggests we should be cautious of young children's exposure to technology and media. The government guidelines recommended that those under 2 years of age should have no screen media exposure at all, as they may negatively change the nature of babies brain development. But technology can not only negatively affect young children, but also teenagers. Studies have shown that technology may affect teenage sleep, learning and memory. Despite all these negative affects, James shared shockingly high statistics of technology being used by every member of the household.

However, James also discussed some positive affects of technology, such as, educational TV shows for children aged of 2-3 years increasing educational performance.

This leaves teachers, parents and individuals with an educational choice - of when, what, and how much to partake in technology.

Video 5:

At the cutting edge: James tells you More Stuff

"As an educator, it is important to ask: “which technologies am I going to use to invest my time and skill sets well?"

In this video, James talked about the different kinds of technology systems schools adopt. These include:

• 1-1 learning: 1 student to 1 technology learning device. AKA mobile learning.

• Prescribed technology: Everyone has the same learning device.

• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Students bring any time of learning device. AKA BAB (Bring A Browser)

• Gamification & DGBL (Digital Game Based Learning): This is where you take game elements and place them in non game activities (education). This doesn’t make it a game, but it makes it fun and more engaging.

• Flipped learning: The homework model changes from working on during class, to preparing before class. This frees up time for more hands-on learning to take place in class. However the teacher has to ensure students are keeping up with the homework content to understand and get the most out of classroom activities.

James then went on to discuss the beauty of technology in music ed. It doesn’t just deliver information, but it also delivers productivity and creativity software for students to create with.