4/3 Blog

All too frequently I walk past classrooms with computers lining the walls and plastic bags sitting over them for dust protection. The teachers continuing their classroom lessons from books and dry erase boards. When I do see them used it is for online test taking purposes or to teach typing techniques from another text book. T.V.s sit in each room with a DVD and VHS player attached and I still have yet to see a teacher use one. As for myself, I have already used my T.V. for various purposes, from a teaching tool on proper care for an instrument with younger students to performances by professional bands with the older students. All of which has helped to encourage and improve on the knowledge and will to do well from the students. I plan to use the T.V. to show the students their own performance and use it to show where improvements can be made. If I had access to the computers in my classroom I would use it as a sound studio and interactive study tool for the students.

• Television's fundamental role in the classroom is to allow teachers to eliminate the compromise of using verbal descriptions of anything that can be seen, thus enhancing the quality of the information they make available to learners, enhancing the outcome of the teaching-learning process.

A prime example in my case would be marching preparations for band. It is near impossible to explain what the students are supposed to look like without having a video tape recording to actually show them what went right and what went wrong. Recording their performances on stage can also help so they may see where they can better improve. Also, watching other bands perform is invaluable for new ideas and evaluation studies.

• The use of television in education can be either a passive or an active experience for learners. The outcome depends solely upon the teacher's understanding of television's versatility.

Very true indeed. I could simply use it and let it role and not engage my students to show them areas of improvement or where they did well. However, using is actively and drawing in outside performances with active interaction will dramatically improve the speed of understanding from my students.

• Ironically, television, the global master medium that daily impacts human psyches and emotions in homes, is only an occasional visitor in the classroom- the place where young minds are being nurtured and cultivated. This is because we have not yet devised the best way to harness this extraordinary power in a manner compatible with the system in place.

This is very true. I think can even be extended to computer use in the classroom. Perhaps teachers do not use these mediums as often because the students attentions will begin to drift. Of course that could also be that many teachers use them passively. I have noticed that when I pull out the T.V. students go into "watch" mode. This frequently means changing seats and making request like candy and drinks. It takes a strong initiative to keep the student in a learner mode when using these mediums. It is this battle that perhaps prevents teachers from using them more often.

• The mind coupled with a computer infinitely amplifies its capacity to perform the basic cognitive functions. Yet, there is no configuration of microchips that replicates the intricate, vital interface between mind and emotions-a basic limitation of computers.

Very true in music education. A student can have access to all sorts of technology and high quality equipment to insure the greatest of sounds and access to near unlimited performance and editing options. But if they go untaught on basic music principles. If they are allowed to ignore the very thing that makes music great. You will end up with a student making pointless and emotionless music and a failed product. Too often we hear "manufactured" music on the radio and not enough truly inspired music. The music student cannot be allowed to forget that technology is not the cure for poor music. Great music comes from inside the human soul and technology is available to harness that creation. Students cannot be allowed to forget that Beethoven not only wrote great music when the technology was only paper and pen, but also did it deaf and unable to even hear what he was creating. The point is that no technology would have created what he made. It would however possibly help him hear what he wrote.

• Computers actively engage the human mind and create a synergism. However, nothing transpires unless the human takes the initiative to interact; and then the mind is locked into an active, progressive, collaborative thinking mode. Thus, in a sense, using a computer can be considered aerobics for the mind.

Back to my original points in this post. Too often I see computers with dust protectors on them and not actively being used. Therefore helping the student think that computers are for fun only and very few other uses. With music education it can be used to help stimulate the mind of the student in such a way that they can actually visualize what they are practicing. Play back and edit what they performed. Save it into a computer for other listeners to critique. A performance could now be heard world wide. A student could get feed back from a major university or educator in another part of the world.

• Because computers store multimedia information interactively utilizing software that is course-specific, they allow teachers to provide each member of the class an increased number of individualized learning experiences based on the learner's needs rather than the teacher's availability.

I have touched on this many times before. To keep from being too repetitive I will focus this more towards keeping the student responsible and engaged in their own improvement. The ability to use a computer directly with instrumentation practice is not that common for a secondary education student. This would allow them to be more responsible for their own improvement. Once a student can actually "grade" themselves in a fair and uncompromising way (that only a non-thinking computer could do) can they become truly inspired about improvement.