Week 3 blog

Hello!

This week was very interesting because the lesson was online! I am very impressed with James for making this lesson accessible even without us all being in the same physical space. This is definitely where education is heading (psst psst other con lecturers, recorded lectures of this standard would be so valuable if we ever have to miss a lecture because of illness or otherwise! Also would just be great for studying.

This is going to be a fairly short blog, as I do not have a lot of time on Wednesdays. I have class from 9-5:30 and rehearsal from 7, so normally I do my blogs at another time during the week. Any details missed in this blog, or areas I wish to research further will be caught up later this week (even if it's too late for the peer assessment).

The first thing I did after watching this week's videos was go look at the layout of my blog. This was something I had not put much thought into up until now. I am just using a standard Wix template, and I think they are pretty much geared towards the "F" configuration mentioned in James' video. Title and buttons are along the top, blogs along the left hand side and "About me" on the right. One thing I did notice was there was a subscript box right up the top of the page. Having people subscribe to my blog would be cool, but not not my main goal. So I moved this down the page, to have my blogs and about me at the top. I do not have time to go into more depth of my blog tonight, but later this week I hope to go into more detail, and hopefully look at the set up of my written posts as well, to have the most important information easily findable.

Before

After

Next up is critical thinking about technology. I came into this subject expecting to have my views challenged on technology in education, which I guess lead me to coming in with a fairly open mind. During my education, technology use was limited, and when it was used I found it was rather gimmicky. Of course powerpoint was used (but after watching this lecture I have realised it could have been used a lot better), however this was only used by the teachers, and we were not allowed to have our own laptops or devices until year 11 and 12. And of course, phones were not permitted to be used or be on your person during school hours. And because of this experience, I thought it was best to keep technology limited in the classroom. There were always technology problems and things not working, the exercises we did online were limited and gimmicky, and when we were allowed our own devices, during class people would be playing games, taking quizzes or online shopping. However, even after only three weeks of this course, I find the idea of technology in education really exciting. With each generation becoming more technology literate, controls on what students can and can't do on devices are getting better, and things you can do on said technology are becoming more meaningful. One way of technology I particularly love is using technology in informal learning, in the Mitra in Music video. This video particularly showed how technology can inspire students to go and learn more on their own. This means when they come up with questions they can't find answers to on the internet, they can ask the teacher and be motivated to learn about aspects of music theory they might otherwise be disengaged in. I loved the way the video clips showed the different ways technology was being used in the classroom, and connected students to the music they were listening to outside of the classroom. I think this is a great way to bridge the gap between "classically trained" musicians and everyone else. The amount of "classical" music education students receive really depends on which school they go to, what area they live in and the willingness/ ability/ socio-economic status of their parents. This creates a huge divide in the classroom, especially in high school, depending on who has received private music lessons outside of school (as many primary schools, at least in the area I was in, did not offer any music education). Using technology can help cater for each students' needs and have every student engaged at the level they're at.

The last thing I would like to mention before I leave it here for today, is that I'm not convinced on Sweller's Powerpoint theory. I agree that PowerPoint slides shouldn't be huge paragraphs of text, but from personal experience, I really like it when PowerPoints have a 2-3 dot point sentences on them. I love to learn by listening, but I need to have the notes written down in some form in order for me to remember them. If there is not enough information on the powerpoint (as usually there are no other lecture notes), I spend the whole lecture trying to scribble down as fast as I can what the lecturer is saying, and by doing this absorbing none of it. If the full main points that the lecturer is saying are written on the powerpoint slides, my full focus can be on the lecturer, and I can scribble down a few extra and meaningful notes from what the lecturer is saying, if I feel like it will add. However, I am happy for my mind to be changed about this, and I am definitely going to look into it further (who knows, I might gain some better study habits!).

Apologies for the word vomit that is this blog, but hopefully it got my main points down. Keep your eyes peeled for the update!